The Government claims that “We’re all in this together”. But even with Eric Pickles’ 'transition grant' into account, the poorest areas will do worse out of this settlement.
The Government is fond of claiming that “We’re all in this together”. But even taking Eric Pickles’ ‘transition grant‘ into account, it is abundantly clear that the poorest areas will do worse out of this settlement.
Left Foot Forward has carried out a simple econometric analysis of the local government cuts and compared the post-transition grant “change in estimated ‘revenue spending power’ 2011-12” with the 2007 index of multiple deprivation – the last analysis available. The figures speak for themselves.
In London, there is a strong correlation between the two variables. Poor areas like Hackney (-8.9%), Newham (-8.9%), Tower Hamlets (-8.9%), and Islington (-8.8%) find themselves with the deepest cuts while richer areas like Richmond (-0.61%), Havering (-1.71%), and Harrow (-1.9%) are best off.
The x-axis covers the index of multiple deprivation (50 is the most deprived area) while the y-axis covers the percentage fall in ‘revenue spending power’.
A similar pattern takes place in metropolitan areas. Here Manchester, Liverpool, South Tyneside, and Knowsley get take the maximum hit of -8.9% while less deprived areas like Solihull (-3.49%), Dudley, (-3.39%), and Trafford (-3.79%) do far better.
UPDATE 18.41:
It has been pointed out to me that the local government figures include NHS support for social care. If this were excluded the picture would be even more stark.
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180 Responses to “Eric Pickles’ cuts target Britain’s poorest areas”
Peter Marshall
RT @johannhari101: The Tory cuts announced today hit the poorest areas hardest: http://bit.ly/gjxG3I via excellent @leftfootforward
Jimmy Corkhill
RT @leftfootfwd: @ValShawcross Please RT – Eric Pickles' cuts target Britain's poorest areas http://bit.ly/dTBtmC
Jim Buckley
RT @leftfootfwd: @ValShawcross Please RT – Eric Pickles' cuts target Britain's poorest areas http://bit.ly/dTBtmC
Mark Berry
RT @johannhari101: The Tory cuts announced today hit the poorest areas hardest: http://bit.ly/gjxG3I via excellent @leftfootforward
Will Straw
13eastie – Madness:
(1) The analysis yesterday was not commissioned by the Labour party, we did it off our own back.
(2) We have not “cherry picked a couple of dozen data points” but looked at all London boroughs (Chart 1) and all Metropolitan areas (Chart 2). Given Britain’s bizarre local government structure it wouldnt make sense to lump all LAs in together.
(3) The Index of Multiple Deprivation may have been created by a Labour government but what’s your point. It is calculated independently by academics at Oxford University.
(4) We used data from 2007 (not 2005) because it’s the last year for which data is available. We’re due a new series in 2010 but the Government appears to be delaying its publication. I can’t guess why.