The Howe paper was secret and known at the time of creation via leaks. The likes of Hatton etc said like hell you will. I mentioned it here on this forum in 6 years ago:
#9
Originally Posted by
Big where it matters
Another example he gave was the formation of the metropolitan county of Merseyside and how it couldn't have been drawn more tightly. Much of Merseyside isn't included and towns that might have balanced the dominance of Liverpool like Wigan and Warrington are left out.
The boundaries of Merseyside were formed under the Tories in the early 1970s. The chipping at the Liverpool mountain has been going on for over 100 years. All of the Wirral should have been in Merseyside -and all around the estuary's banks, inc Ellesmere Port, Runcorn & Widnes and to the north at Ormskirk. Southport requested to be in Merseyside, then have whinged since to be out. I do not agree that Wigan should not have been in Merseyside. Merseyside is predominantly the estuary banks, the Wirral and the solid blocks of Towns around liverpool. Wigan was to be on Merseyrail in the initial planning, but removed.
"managed decline", really meant "managed dismantling".
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Another thing this former civil servant said (and I'm quoting from memory so I apologise if I miss things out or place emphasis where it doesn't belong) was how when Britain joined the ECC as it was then, a big deal was made about how the port of Liverpool was on the wrong side of the country almost over night and how this became another nail in Liverpool's coffin despite the fact that Liverpool is ideally placed between Europe and North America! The negatives were seized upon to emphasise the notion that 'Liverpool is finished' rather the opportunities presented by the recently opened Seaforth dock. Of course the relationship between MDHB and dockers was particularly poisonous during this time (always?) so that didn't help to raise the port's profile either.
Trade with the rest of the world is still greater than with the EU. Yes this, "on the wrong side" was used to convince the ignorant masses Liverpool was finished. I have lost count of the times that line was spun to me.
Fortunately (for us) Storey put a spoke in the works and began the fight back
As did the likes of Hatton. He asked for £25 million and got £20m when they wanted to give zero, he actually won. His budget was illegal but he got a wedge for the city to build the bungalows. In the Hatton spat, the media only focused on Liverpool when Lambeth in London were with Liverpool all the way, yet they never got top negative media billing and have not since being air-brushed from popular history.
but even he had to sign that shameful concordat drawn up by the North West Development Agency that acknowledged that Liverpool would no longer insist on parity with Manchester.
Storey didn't have to sign anything.
In the 1970s Liverpool prepared for the future:
- With one of the world's largest container docks, maintaining the port as leading edge.
- Massive grain handling facilities.
- In 1978 a new underground urban railway network was opened after extensive tunnel boring under the city - Merseyrail, the largest outside London. Metros create economic growth.
- Newish car factories were expanded.
- The new Giro Bank was set up and based in the city.
- The City Council had a new massive runway built at the airport with plans for terminal expansion after neglect and decline under the Air Ministry until the 1960s.
- New motorways served the city from every direction even with a ring Motorway.
- A large new road tunnel was built under the Mersey.
- The city had a thriving arts sector mainly based on music.
The list is endless. All the infrastructure was there. New modern industries were emerging with the old adapting well. The building blocks were all in place to attract industry and create economic growth. The city had it all to catapult to the next level.
Why did this mixed economy "commercial" city, not a one industry manufacturing city, which at one time in the 1800s was richer than London, decline in few short years? It just happened to have been when Thatcher and the Tories came to power.
The decline of Liverpool was engineered. No city with so much going for it could naturally collapse in a few short years. The London based media certainly were 100% involved in the decline in character assassination. Many profitable companies pulled out of the city - which were externally owned - as they did not want to be associated with the city.
The London media put it across that Liverpool was full of left-wing strike prone people. Yet the political history of the city said something very different. The days lost per industrial dispute were less than the average.
Hesseltine did nothing for Liverpool. He asked for £100 million and got £15 million. He was a part of the "managed dismantlement", but putting on another face.
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