9 of the 10 poorest regions in Northern Europe are in the UK

[muriel_volestrangler]

and the richest in Northern Europe is too - Inner London.



http://inequalitybriefing.org/brief/briefing-43-the-poorest-regions-of-the-uk-are-the-poorest-in-northern-

Way more inequality in the UK than other northern European countries. Even if you exclude inner London, the UK is still more unequal than the others. And that's comparing the richer parts of old West Germany with East Germany.

Data from Eurostat: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/1-27022014-AP/EN/1-27022014-AP-EN.PDF

[Gumboot]

1. Thatcher may be dead...

... but her evil spawn have been on a 35-year rampage against anything outside the City of London. And this map shows the result.

I lived in Yorkshire through the 80s, and it was a continual horror show as the Tories closed down every blue-collar industry they could, waging their savage war on working people as the rich in the south east stockbroker belt vacuumed up all the wealth.

I've been away to America over 11 years now, and I dread going back to see what's left in my valleys of green and grey.

[T_i_B]

2. Depends whereabouts in Yorkshire

Some parts of Yorkshire are doing alright, other places are still really struggling.

Contrast what's happened in the UK with Germany and you realise how far behind we've dropped.

[fedsron2us]

3. Poorer, more unequal and 1/5 less productive than its neighbours in northern Europe

BOE figures show output per worker is 16% less than in 2008

http://www.cityam.com/1412153538/productivity-gets-even-more-puzzling-output-falls-03-cent

UK per capita GDP is in a poor shape

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/07/rising-uk-population-gdp-recovery-ons

What you rarely see mentioned in the discussions about immigration is that the UK Treasury actually relies on it to boost the countries GDP and to give the illusion of economic growth. This is down to the simple fact that more people equals a bigger economy. In fact without it the UK economy would be shrinking. For all the blather about the issue by UKIP and the other political parties etc it is a UK government not an EU driven phenomenon Unfortunately, relying on sucking in large numbers of cheap workers rather than using capital investment to compete is probably not going to be a route to prosperity in the long run and if for any reason migrants decide other pastures are greener then the economy is going to contract again unless things change soon.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/07/25/u-k-recovery-flattered-by-population-growth/