Monday, 31 December 2012 08:56
'Alarming predictions of social unrest and the break-up of civil society have been delivered by the leaders of three of England's biggest cities, amid new evidence that government policies are widening – rather than narrowing – the economic divide between north and south.
In a letter to the Observer, the council leaders of Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield – where Nick Clegg is an MP – issue a plea to government to halt cuts that they say unfairly penalise the north relative to the south, before crime and community tensions erupt on the streets.
Their joint assault comes as fresh analysis shows that one of the government's flagship policies to promote housebuilding and economic activity across the whole country, the New Homes Bonus, is draining money away from northern councils, while swelling coffers in their southern equivalents.'
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