Cities need financial freedoms to strengthen private sector base in preparation for cuts. Last week, Centre for Cities launched the fourth edition of Cities Outlook, our annual index of UK cities.
Our findings show that while the UK is showing signs of emerging from recession, growth across the country is uneven.
The economic performance of cities in particular varies. Over the past decade some cities, like Cambridge, York and Reading, constantly outperformed the national average across a variety of economic indicators. Others, like Hastings, Blackburn or Hull, persistently scored below the UK average.
The last Government’s responses to halting decline within these cities and compensating for low private sector jobs growth resulted in growth of the public sector instead. Birmingham, for example, lost 61,400 jobs in the private sector between 1998 and 2008, but gained 91,100 within the public. Stoke lost 20,900 private sector jobs, but created 2,900 within the public.
This means many of our weakest city economies are vulnerable to public sector spending cuts. Cities Outlook assesses the impact of the announced cuts on GB cities. It estimates that by 2014/15 Liverpool could lose 7,900 public sector jobs, Hull could lose 2,300 and in Stoke 3,100 jobs are at risk.
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