Sorry – been away, so posts ground to a halt. But I’m back now, just in time to pass comment on one of my ‘favourite’ sets of annual statistics. The Centre for Economic & Business Research do an annual analysis of Government spending by region, and it each year it shocks me anew. This year, they have found that Government spending accounts for 54% of the Gross Domestic Product of the North West. Over half the economy is dependent upon Gordon Brown – higher than the figure for any EU nation apparently. At least it’s not as bad as Wales at 64.3%, but it is still well above the national figure of 44%. London, on the other hand, is less than 33%.

So what does this actually mean? Well, firstly it could be argued that it is a very good way for Gordon Brown to keep people voting Labour if they misguidedly believe that their livelihoods depend upon this flow of Government money continuing. Misleading headlines in Labour leaflets about “Tory cuts” (we’re matching Labour’s spending, a fact they prefer to ignore) are designed to do just that.

Secondly, it underlines the importance of economic regeneration in Blackpool which is based upon private initiative. We need to diversify beyond tourism and civil service departments. Whilst this is occurring to a limited extent, I do not believe it is going far and fast enough. And we can’t just rely on Gordon waking up and feeling generous. We know that, at a national level, the public finances are tightening up, and that spending will not be increasing the way it has been.

Of course, Joan Humble will now start repeating her accusation from her latest leaflet that we’re talking Blackpool down. Not a bit of it. Like most people in this town, I know the potential which exists here, I know the assets this town possesses which few others do. But like most people I speak to, I am equally prepared to recognise the obstacles that lie in the way of us fulfilling our potential as a community. Labour have turned their back on Blackpool, and they know it, hence their increasingly shrill cries. I want to make Blackpool the best place to live, and that means confronting issues, not avoiding them.

Our local MPs think that throwing money at places like Grange Park solves all problems. A shiny new building is no sign of progress if what is occurring inside doesn’t live up to the billing. Take the SureStart Centre in Grange Park. This is a flagship programme for the Government.

But there have been reports in the last week about how Office of National Statistics data is revealing the lack of progess under Sure Start. And it isn’t just the ONS. As The Times reported just last week:

“Beverley Hughes, the Children and Families Minister, conceded that more improvement was needed. She was disappointed that the gap between poor and middle-class children had not narrowed.
She added: ‘Both we and local authorities must focus our efforts on improving the life chances of children who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged’.”

This is despite £21 billion being invested in the project which seeks to improve educational attainment and emotional development amongst the under 5s. Yet the figures show that, nationally, some 40% of youngsters cannot write their own name by the time they enter reception class at primary school, and more than a fifth have problems stringing a coherent sentence together.

This is not to decry the efforts of the people working at Grange Park’s Sure Start. It’s the system that is at fault, and Labour’s fundamentally misguided belief that all they have to do is throw money at things to make everything all right. But these figures show how much further there is still to go across the country as a whole. Local Labour MPs can’t just pretend that having put up a building they don’t need to do anything else and that that is evidence of success. What matters is what goes on inside the building.