Abandon the North and move to London says report

A report from a leading conservative think tank today suggested the government should abandon regeneration of the Northern English cities as they are beyond help. Their solution is to expand London creating millions more homes to house the migrants from the economic wasteland of Northern England and be honest to residents of certain areas about their economic prospects if they stay in their respective cities.

The report singles out Liverpool, Hull and Sunderland in particular. It argues that with these being important 19th century coastal cities that were useful for shipping they are now no longer relevant to the modern British economy because of their distance from London, Heathrow as a key point of arrival into the UK and Liverpool in particular for its distance from the rest of the continental European Union (although it does remain well connected to the Republic of Ireland and trans Atlantic shipping routes).

The report has caused outrage in many of the fiercely proud Northern Cities singled out by the think tank. Local media on Humberside, Teesside and Merseyside has reacted with fury along side local government. Nationally the Labour party has disagreed with the findings of the report and the Conservative party has distanced itself from the findings of an organization normally the party's chosen ideological powerhouse. This is at a time the party is attempting to increase its chances in key marginal areas and in particular key northern cities following the new Labour meltdown in the Glasgow East by election.