HolgateCorner
Well-known member
Th
I‘ve heard that from 1980 onwards right up until the 2019 election of Johnson and now it‘s no problem because the Tories want to do it.
Could you in your wildest dreams imagine that amount of money being made available to a Labour mayor?
Putting his success or otherwise to one side the thing that really gets to me about both Houchen and Johnson is that for years any promotion of state intervention into the economy was portrayed as communism, loony left, party of tax and spend, the free market economy rules etc etc. Gordon Brown was run out of town on the basis of ’we need to get the deficit down’.Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.
1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9
2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.
3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.
Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.
The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.
Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.
Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.
So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
I‘ve heard that from 1980 onwards right up until the 2019 election of Johnson and now it‘s no problem because the Tories want to do it.
Could you in your wildest dreams imagine that amount of money being made available to a Labour mayor?