Centre for Cities calls for more honesty from politicians about winners and losers from globalisation

Date: 10/09/2008

As the UK faces the prospect of a recession, a new report from the Centre for Cities calls on the Government to double its efforts to help UK cities adjust to globalisation.

The report finds that whilst the UK as a whole gains from global trade - and cities like Reading and Milton Keynes have grown, other traditional industrial urban areas like Bradford and Doncaster aren't benefiting as much from the global economy and could stand to lose out further during the tough times ahead.   

On a winning streak...

• 40% of Reading's workforce is employed in the top twenty exporting sectors, nearly double the proportion in Stoke and Doncaster.

• Whilst Liverpool has lost 16% of its population since the early 1980s, Milton Keynes' numbers have swelled by 78%, as its service industries boomed.

Losing out...

• Belfast lost 26% of its manufacturing jobs during the 1960s - employment at Harland and Wolff dropped from 20,000 in the 1950s to just 120 today.

• Bradford has lost over 90% percent of textiles jobs in the last 40 years. 

The report finds that cities need to be more realistic about their role in the global economy.  Not every city can aspire to London's global city status.  Bradford will not grow as fast as Reading - but that doesn't mean it can't succeed.

UK cities are small on the global stage but benefit from being close together.  They need to collaborate more effectively - by clubbing together across city-regions, and promoting meaningful city ‘brands' like Greater Manchester and Greater Birmingham.

The Government cannot turn the tide of global economic change.  But regeneration spending in cities needs to focus on those hardest hit - by re-skilling workless residents and investing in transport networks, linking people to jobs.

Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities said,

"Globalisation cuts both ways in UK cities. It does not benefit everyone in every city, but it does benefit the UK as a whole. Higher-skilled people and well-connected cities tend to gain more from globalisation. That's why Reading has seen jobs and population growth, and Liverpool's employment base and population has shrunk.

"Politicians cannot and should not reverse this tide of global economic change, but they can be more honest about it - and do more to support the people and places hit hardest by globalisation."  

Notes to Editors

UK Cities in the Global Economy by Hannah Brown is available to download at www.centreforcities.org/globalisation

For more information, please contact:

Rosamund Taylor, Media and Communications Officer, Centre for Cities

r.taylor@centreforcities.org / 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426

 Source: ONS Input/Output tables, 2006; ABI, ONS 2007