The COVID impacted economy in Tottenham. More people Boris Johnson doesn’t know exist
The Guardian has published a useful if concerning report on the COVID impacted economy in Tottenham and the wider London Borough of Haringey.
When Haringey was formed in 1965 it was deliberately constructed to have a balance between less well off working areas in Tottenham and better off areas in Crouch End and Muswell Hill. The idea behind that was to have a political balance between Labour and Tory.
Of course since then the Tories have disappeared from much of urban Britain and both sides of the Borough mainly vote Labour.
Haringey has the fastest rising rate of unemployment in the UK at 10th December 2020- 7.7%. As the article notes some of that is in previously secure middle class jobs in the West of the Borough.
There is a wider story the article doesn’t tell though and it is about Tories. I’m born and bred to the area and still live there. Back in the day Tottenham was part of the Lea Valley, one of the big industrial areas of the UK. There were plenty of skilled well paid jobs and a good number of Tottenham residents worked at Fords Dagenham.
Then came Mrs Thatcher. The industry was wiped out to be replaced by warehousing with fewer, less skilled and lower paid jobs.
It was a Tory Double Whammy though. With the Tory inspired decline of the private sector the public sector became a more significant part of the lower economy.
Between 1979 and 1997 and again from 2010 Tory Governments have cut and cut again public funding to Boroughs like Haringey.
Now with the additional impact of COVID and furlough the safety net for those out of work is threadbare.
Boris Johnson visited Tottenham once after the 2011 riot when he was London Mayor. I shook his hand as President of the local TUC.
I don’t think he’s been back since. Perhaps he should consult Street Map and get a bit of exercise on his bike.
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