Come up north and see the biting cost of austerity this Christmas

The findings have been published  to mark the fourth anniversary of the Conservative Party's landslide election victory. It brings together 18 critical indicators covering health, policing, transport and local infrastructure. The results, which focus on England in this round, make shocking reading. 

Underserved communities and ignored regions particularly in the north of England are shown to be fairing worse of all, experiencing rising homelessness, high levels of poverty, appalling teacher retention rates, increased need for more and improved social care support, the longest A&E waiting times, cuts to local buses, insufficient housing stock, a broken Special Educational Needs system and poor teacher retention rates. Alongside this, councils are nearing bankruptcy after years of imposed austerity measures. 

Even across so-called ‘ Red Wall’ areas - many of which were won by the Conservatives in 2019 under the banner of ‘ spreading prosperity and opportunity’ - poverty and healthcare indexes are through the roof. 

The research findings also show that there is no urgency in government to resolve the problem. Put bluntly, they just don't care.

As someone who grew up in conditions of abject poverty in the 1960s, 1970s and into the early 1980s, and as a person whom throughout my working life has striven to support onward generations living in situations of poverty and inequality too, I have experienced and seen this first hand only too clearly. It is not only that failings in government policy can result in harming the living standard of individuals, families and communities but how they can purposefully suppress opportunities and divide the nation into the North/South divide that is the order of things today.

In my daily work with children and families, I with so many other colleagues are striving to combat food and fuel poverty. More and more children are leaving their homes for school and nurseries hungry as their parents don’t have enough money to feed them. On return their evening meal is often cold food out of a can because their parents can’t afford to warm up the contents. In the 21st century they are going to bed, huddled up in numbers with coats over them to keep warm, because their parents cannot afford to heat their homes. 

I had one mother visit a provision that I am supporting with her children. She sat dignified at the side whilst her children used the open-access play facilities and she told me she had come so her children could play and simply ‘keep warm’ . Quite often parents have asked me if they could take home the leftovers that other children had not eaten because they have no food to feed their children that night. Thankfully we always have some additional food put to one side. 

These are not the only cases. We are seeing thousands of children living hand-to mouth in my city. It makes a mockery of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson saying about the New Britain Project’s findings that: "We reject this assessment. Levelling up is a long-term programme of reform that sits at the heart of our ambition as a Government, and we are already delivering on it. We have committed £13 billion for supporting projects to improve everyday life for people across the UK - regenerating town centres and high streets, local transport and cultural and heritage assets - while our Levelling Up and Regeneration Act is also clear evidence that this agenda is a priority for government. We are devolving more money and power out of Westminster to the regions, and we are making significant progress to offer a devolution deal to any area that wants one by 2030, with over 50% of England covered by a deal."

The spokesperson also referenced Town Deals which provide funding of up to £25 million and "already boosted town centres and local high streets", as well as government plans to create 55 Education Investment Areas in England where attainment is weakest "to support school improvement and teacher retention". The reality is that harm done by the imposition of austerity measures in children, families and communities to-date is immense, especially in the north. What is being proposed doesn’t even address what was taken away during austerity, let alone provide the increased funding needed for to address the inequalities and demands that have arisen as a result of the austerity cuts in the first place.

I would welcome any and all politicians from every political persuasion to contact me to arrange a visit ‘up north’ for them to spend time with the children and families I support to hear and see first hand the biting impact of austerity on their lives. They would also witness for themselves that the promises of prosperity and opportunity have all be broken - they never translated it into reality for the vast majority of us up north.