London draining life out of rest of country
Pisces Cloud
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I think Vince Cable makes a good point.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25444981
London "is becoming a giant suction machine draining the life out of the rest of the country", Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned.
"More balance in that respect would be helpful."
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25444981
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Without the tax contribution of the City of London, the country would be broke.
Making a virture out of an industry that has harmed most of London, let alone the rest of the country. It's like praising your drug dealer for a speedy service
Boris fawning over the City
Why am I not surprised?
i wonder how many dictatorships we are keeping in power across the world ......
Thank you Chairman Mao.
If it really was electronic, it would be in Delhi, but its not, its in London because that is where the stockbrokers and bankers want to be.
I read on here just recently that half the population of the UK was based in the south.
Which I found quite shocking.
So if that's true, then Parliament is central by population rather than geography I would have thought.
By population it may even be further north than central?
I don't disagree with your idea necessarily, but I think the distribution of people in the country does need to be better understood.
I agree that Cable likes to shock even though stating the bleeding obvious, but when he does come up with a valid point its worthy of debate.
Too many people in power ignore this imbalance. Most of them, of course, are dependent on London in some way; either they work there or live in London or nearby. They have a vested interest in London. One would expect the capital city to be dominant but there is an overwhelming imbalance which is shown up by the statistics.
"The majority of the poor are now people in work, not the unemployed. And a vastly disproportionate share of all UK wages are now paid in and around London. Which suggests that Londoners are better able to afford even their sky-high rents, and as a result get proportionately less housing benefit.
The net effect of the bedroom tax, then, is to suck even more money away from the “edges” of the country and into the London coffers of the Treasury, where in turn it gets disproportionately invested straight back into London, generating more wages and completing the circle."
Continues
"Vince Cable today described London as “a giant suction machine draining the life out of the rest of the country”. That wasn’t exactly a new revelation. But we suspect few people realised that one of the engines driving that machine was the “spare room subsidy” being snatched from the poorest in Wales, the north of England and, as ever, the willing cash cow that is Scotland."
Without the bailout funded by British taxpayer's many of them struggling, the City of London would be broke.
Perhaps, central location was the wrong term when what I really meant was a move away from London and the South East, to relieve some of the pressure. London should be more like New York or Sydney a cultural area, great for tourists and Government should be in another part of the country. We seem to have it all centred in one city.
Almost every financial transaction (including insurance, pension etc) you make will involve someone employed in London so the overhead to that transaction is given as salary someone in London and largely spent locally.
So we have a massive financial filter in London with a large amount of the country's wealth constantly 'leaking out' and finding itself spent in London shops, restaurants, transport, car dealers etc.
The country would benefit from decentralisation.
Make living and working in London so miserable people will move
As Boris pointed out in his rebuttal to Vince Cable TfL supports thousands of jobs all over Britain in it's supply chain. Construction in the capital also supports thousands of jobs. These people spend money in their home towns not just London.
That and as has pointed out London (even if you take the bank bailout into consideration) has been a net contributor to the country for decades.
Vince Cable's comment (outside of say airports) does not stand up to much scrutiny.
they pave over paradise and put up a parking-lot, and airport runway, a few million more houses etc. London has always been a money black hole (in some ways) the trouble is each person there seems to have twice the voting power of the rest of us - so they get £10 per £1spent anywhere else!
You mean 40-50% of the UK's Population is based in London and the South East? I certainly think so...
Total Rubbish, the whole of the UK is being screwed by Westminster and the elite who run it...>:(