241 Pizza

“All of this raises the question of whether public spending is a good or a bad thing. Thirty or 40 years ago regional planners would have said that the thing to do to close the north-south divide would be to shift public spending north. The thing that makes economies grow is the vibrancy and success of the private sector.”

John Adams, director of research at the Institute for Public Policy Research North, agreed that the figures reflected big economic differences between the regions.

“It’s right that the national exchequer should transfer money to poorer people and that you have some kind of system that protects the poorest people,” he said. “But the ideal situation is that all the areas of the country have a healthy economy and healthy employment.”

Many northerners argue that they deserve a greater share of government money.

“The north has historically been behind the south,” said Eleanor Marsden, a teacher from Hull. “If the north is getting more money than the south, it is because there are severe areas of deprivation in the north that as a country we have been very slow in addressing. Some places in the north haven’t been touched since the war and that’s something that really isn’t acceptable.”

Barry Peek, an engineer from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, disagreed. “These days I’m not sure there is such a strong north-south divide. House prices have risen everywhere, including the north,” he said.

“I’m not sure that the north is as deserving as it used to be — and pumping money in isn’t necessarily the best way to achieve things.”

OFFICIAL: YOU’RE NOT WORKING HARDER, IT JUST FEELS THAT WAY

BRITAIN’S stressed-out generation, the millions who believe they are working harder and longer than ever, have got the wrong end of the stick. Official figures show that working hours are falling, not rising, and that the average working week is shorter than it has ever been, writes David Smith.

The statistics show that average working hours are declining for both men and women. The average working week for all people in full-time jobs has dropped nearly two hours in the past 10 years.

The government’s Labour Force Survey shows the average working week for all full-timers, including paid overtime, has dropped from 38.8 hours in 1996 to 37.1 hours in the first three months of this year.

The male average working week has come down from 40.9 to 38.9 hours and the female average from 34.7 to 34 hours.

The Department of Trade and Industry, in a recent report, noted there had been “a gradual downward trend in working hours for a long time, but this appears to have accelerated as a result of the working time directive”. The European Union directive, introduced in 1998, but with exemptions for certain staff, has cut the number of people working more than 48 hours a week by a fifth.

Working hours have dropped sharply over time. In the middle of the 19th century, the average industrial worker put in as many as 3,500 hours a year — double the present annual average for full-time workers — with 60 or 70-hour working weeks common.

Politicians have regularly argued that Britain needs a better work-life balance. Last week, David Cameron, the Tory leader, addressed this theme when he said in a speech that there was more to life than money.

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