Public spending ‘propping up UK cities’

The social and economic problems in UK cities are going to get much worse in the face of an inevitable squeeze on public spending, CIPD chief economist John Philpott warned delegates at a Labour Party conference fringe event.

Philpott said the most disadvantaged cities had not fared as badly as expected during the recession because levels of public subsidy had been maintained. “It’s something that has buttressed these cities for a long time. In one sense it’s a good thing but it raises the question of what happens when that subsidy is reduced, and we know in the coming period it will have to be,” he said.