The Policy Exchange has been named as David Cameron’s favourite think tank, but Conservative shadow minister for Merseyside Chris Grayling today tells the Daily Post why his party does not accept its findings.
THE Policy Exchange has been named as David Cameron’s favourite think tank, but Conservative shadow minister for Merseyside Chris Grayling today tells the Daily Post why his party does not accept its findings.
IT WAS as if the Fourth Grace had sprung up over-night. When I walked down to the Mersey a couple of weeks ago, a huge new white building had appeared as if by magic on the waterfront.
It was only after a sharp double take I realised it was a ship. The biggest cruise ship I have ever seen. And if the biggest cruise ships are calling, courtesy of the new terminal, you know things are happening in Liverpool.
Anyone who believes Liverpool is a city with no future hasn’t been here.
That’s why Peel Holdings is planning a multi-billion pound state-of-the-art new urban development in part of Liverpool’s docklands. Un-like London, Liverpool has still got docks, and although they take up a smaller area than they did in the past, they’re shifting far more goods than ever before.
Which is why this week’s report from the Policy Exchange think tank was so misplaced. In fact, it was worse than that – but I’m not allowed to say what I really think in a family newspaper.
The job of political think tanks is to put forward chall-enging ideas. But politicians should only listen when they are talking sense – and, in this case, it most definitely wasn’t.
In fact, far from thinking northern towns and cities have no future, I think just the opposite. When my family moved from the South East to the North West in the early 1980s, it was striking how much better the quality of life could be.
It’s nonsensical to suggest that, to have a future, people and business needs to head south. Liverpool, Manches-ter and Leeds have success-ful financial services sectors. They have good universities which will provide great opportunities for local tech-nological innovation. And they still have many strong family businesses.
Liverpool is a buzzing place with a young and ener-getic business community and new developments going up weekly.
Yes, it still faces huge challenges, but the idea that, to make your fortune, you have to head south is not just nonsensical, but also wrong.
