Parliament would benefit from a move to Middlesbrough
MPs and peers would get a better idea of how tough life has become for many of their fellow Britons. Guest blogger Andy Grossett puts the Teesside case
Lord Adonis has suggested moving the House of Lords to the North, possibly Manchester. It's good to see that he was completely serious, despite the wave of negativity that has greeted the BBC move to Salford when viewed from London.
So let's go a bit further; let's move most of the machinery of Government to other parts of the country. Let's move both Houses of Parliament to the north east (Middlesbrough in particular) and civil servants (for example the Ministry of Defence) to Cornwall.
There are many obvious positives to this. Middlesbrough came in first place in the recent Experian credit agency poverty data in terms of biggest risk of poverty and 14th for child poverty (out of 326 local authorities). It also comes third in terms of benefit claimant count percentage. Other surrounding council areas are also high up on the unwanted top table of deprivation.
No-one is arguing that having highly paid government ministers resident on Teesside is going to lead to much of a trickle down of wealth in the economy (Parmos not duck houses are a Teesside speciality). However, it's a little more likely that our representatives' eyes will be opened to the reality of the modern UK economy outside of the City of London.
Manufacturing, for example, long ignored by governments of all parties, is still important in the north east. From the highly successful Nissan plan in Sunderland to the recently reopened SSI Steel Plant in Redcar, manufacturing can be an engine for growth but requires capital investment support, educational backing and decent infrastructure. Vince Cable visited the remaining steel facilities near Middlesbrough prior to their restart and his surprise at the scope and range products indicated a worrying ignorance of the sector that is probably not evident in his views on the finance sector in the south east.
The north east as a whole also suffers from a woeful lack of government investment in capital spending on infrastructure. London and the south east are to receive 84% of such funding compared to 0.04% for the north east under George Osborne's current plans.
Having the seat of government in Middlesbrough would alert Government to the urgent need for better infrastructure in the wider region in other ways - when ministers are stuck on slow=moving trains or enjoying the delights of the non-dualled sections of the A1 Great North Road. We could hope for change, just as ministers do not blink when putting £16 billion into Crossrail after experiencing the everyday travel problems in London.
Middlesbrough also has a ready supply of available land for our legislators following developers' reneging on commitments to the Middlehaven site. This area, surrounding Middlesbrough football club's stadium and lies next to the River Tees, has huge potential for a new parliament with dockside apartments, restaurants and shops. Although some development has started, the developers, BioRegional Quintain, have decided to focus on London given the inexorable rise of property prices there and the relatively negative property outlook for much of the rest of the country, especially the north east.
The good new continues, as the land is not surrounded by the crowded muddle of Westminister and not going to see the kind of £235m price tag attached to the building of Portcullis House for MPs offices in London. Building from scratch will ensure purpose=built offices, properly secure and with suitable multi-media links to the other civil service offices as these spread throughout the country.
Of course, Middlesbrough does not have a monopoly on social deprivation and industrial decline. Luckily, there are plenty of other government-related jobs to relocate. Back in 2009 the total was estimated at over 200,000 direct civil service and 'arms length' jobs still housed in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Not only would moving them bring much-needed economic stimulus to the regions; it would also be likely to save the taxpayer money An inquiry by Sir Michael Lyons in 2007 found that workers in the capital were typically paid 27% more than those outside.
What does this mean for London (outside of a likely daily assault on Middlesbrough by the Daily Mail as Salford has learned to shrug off)? What of our existing Gothic masterpiece that is the Palace of Westminister? Let it become an official museum as well as an actual one, London's number one tourist attraction and a net earner for the rest of us at last.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northe ... ord-adonis
