My home town is Penzance in Cornwall, have just spent a few days there. The GDP for Cornwall and average income is lower than that of Latvia! This is one of the main reasons for the huge EU funding of the Duchy. Have read all about the proposed mining for lithium at South Crofty in Camborne, will believe it when I see it.
I donât have a down on the north, but I DO have a down on anyone who claims that the north is hard done by! You have not addressed the fact that those who do have jobs get paid higher wages than their peers in the south AND pay less for housing & the like! Then they claim poverty. Southerners get paid less but have to finance a higher cost of living but are still perceived as being better off. Is unemployment benefit regionally adjusted? I am not aware that it is. If it is not then staying in the north means that your pound goes further.
It is not the fault of the south that the âold industries of the North, cotton, wool, mining, steel have all suffered huge losses and have for the most part have not received sufficient investment to compensate.â Who & why should compensate who for the fact that these industries are no longer there?
There is no physical barrier between the two regions & motorway links are generally good. If there is no work where you live - commute!
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Iâm not clear how you researched your figures Mark but either things have changed enormously in recent years, or theyâre at odds with statistics gathered in the traditional manner, these are the most recent that came up on google
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/regionalaccounts/grossdisposablehouseholdincome/bulletins/regionalgrossdisposablehouseholdincomegdhi/2015-05-27
and I have to say that my personal experience, although again not recent, is that my friends in London and the Home Counties were on far higher salaries for similar jobs than friends in the north. I knew people who commuted from the Midlands to London purely because of the higher salary.
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Hi Mark,
It would help if you got your figures and stats correct before expressing your views on the North.
The first stat I read was Police Officers wages. I can inform you that they are not more in Manchester compared with Kent. Apart from the London Weighting allowance, Police Officers wages (for federated ranks) are set by the Government and there is a nationally published pay scale.
There is also an incremenmtal scale based on service for the Constables and Sergeants etc. All of these are National - apart from the weighting that was initially.
For a real comparison you may need to look at cores and peripheries. Kent is peripheral to London and the Manchester area is a core of the Nothwest. It may be advisable to compare similar peripheral areas rather than a peripheral area in the South, with a core economic area of the North.
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When I was a lad, I used to regularly travel with my father up to Todmorden, place was a hive of industry, thousands of people used to work in the mills and the factories. All gone off to the far east, wonât be coming back anytime soon. All the old mills are now plush loft apartments for the trendy.
England is not overly large, has unemployment black spots but lack of housing stops people relocating to other areaâs, whereas foreign nationals will go wherever the work is and bunk up ten to a house if they have to.
Back in the good old days of typhus and Rickets, we had a drastic shortage of workers up north and an abundance of people in the south without work, dipping their hands in the poor box. The poor box dippers were told to ship off up north or the lid of the poor box would be screwed shut. Thousands of people from east Anglia shipped off up north and are now northerners. I have no idea or interest in what people get paid in any area in England, but I do know a few teacherâs, and I donât know any who earn thirty grand a year plus.
Hi Andrew,
I did cite my sources in my original post. The Guardian, indeed.co.uk, totaljobs.com & expatisan.com. The last 3 came up in blue which should be a clue! The area of comparison was Greater Manchester, not Manchester (Greater Manchester is a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts, each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs).
Please note that the stats & figures given are not mine but came from an independent source.
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Hi Anna,
The sources for my figures are clearly stated in my op. Having said that I think the term âwealthâ is subject to interpretation. A high salary does not necessarily mean that you have lots of money. One has to look into an individualâs living costs as well. Earning ÂŁ100,000 a year sounds good but if your house is in an expensive area your mortgage may take a large chunk of that. Now add the finance on a car, fuel, parking. Now factor in the fact that prices of commodities will be higher in expensive areas, borrowings, loans & the like then that salary earner may well end up with very little left to spend on lifeâs little luxuries. My job here does not earn me very much actual money, but because my living expenses are small the amount of disposable income (money left after the bills are paid) is actually greater than I ever had in the UK.
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Hi Mark,
I understand that the sources for the stats are not your own. But the three with links are sponsored with ads, I tend to be cautious when trusting stats from this type of source.
I do trust the Guardian, (previously having the nickname from a sergeant as âred kenâ- this would be understandable!) however they are politically aligned and may also put a twist on things they report.
I do not believe that Greater Manchester and Kent are areas that can be compared evenly. I do not know Kent, apart from driving through on my way to France. However I do not believe it compares with the City and towns within Greater Manchester, with Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Wigan, Rochdale etc all large and closely connected, physically and economically. You say it is âpolycentricâ which may be true to an extent, but when looked at in detail, the towns that make up Greater Manchester are all satellites of Manchester in a true core and periphery economic sense, and geographically. They are smaller than Manchester, and Manchester is certainly the central hub of the area.
Your reply though is very true in the way that it highlights the fact that Greater Manchester and Kent are not comparable for this typoe of discussion.
I doubt there is an area in the North that would be a good comparison. Perhaps Cumbria, with the old industrial south of the county, or North Yorkshire.
The stats about Police pay are obviously not correct (not your fault) they must have been gathered by an author wanting to prove a point with âtheirâ stats. There are differences in each forces makeup of officers ranks/length of service etc.
Yes you cited your sources but you didnât explain how you did your sampling - how many figures you used in taking your average etc. Due respect but a few random (perhaps selective) examples donât necessarily give an accurate overall picture. If you read the link youâll see the charts show disposible household income not salary levels, ie it has taken into account local housing costs. Cost of living would need a lot of research, for instance petrol costs are here Compare Fuel Prices | Fuel Prices UK | Cheapest Fuel Prices | Fleet News , plenty of variation but the north south divide is pretty smudged.
I donât have an axe to grind, Iâve lived all over the UK and have no particular loyalties, but the reason I find your stats so surprising is that the friends I visit in and around London and the south east have more visible material wealth, they change their cars and get all the latest domestic gizmos and still have more money in their pockets than the friends I visit up north and in Wales. And theyâre all professional people from a similar mould, managers and suchlike. Maybe the northerners just save more in the bank, I donât know, Iâve never asked 
Hello Mark
I worked and lived in Lancashire for over 12 years so have reasonable experience, including the cold and rainy weather, of the lifestyle.
I have to agree that money did go further in the north. House prices and rents were much cheaper than in the south. My house in the north was a fraction of the cost of what a similar house would be in Kent. Eating out was cheaper and with the many very good markets around there were lots of bargains to be had.
Health care was very good too with none of the long waits to see doctors or have operations.
Travel also was much easier in the north, not like in the south with the overcongested motorways and crowded trains that are endured on a daily basis by many southerners.
So I have to say that as one who has lived and worked in both the north and the south that certainly when I lived in the UK the northerners were better offâŚ
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I was watching Great British Bake Off last night - and there was a part of the show where they sought the opinions of people attending who they wanted to win. One person commented that she was rooting for Kate as she was a âNorthernerâ - I donât think I heave ever heard anyone say the opposite of this, ie - I hope Sophie wins because she is a âSouthernerâ. I think if you were to say such a thing you would be struck down.
People seem to be proud to be from the North and share an allegiance with other Northerners that doesnât seem to be the case for people from the South - who perhaps consider themselves more English (deliberately country specific) rather than from the South, it is almost the case that there is the opposite that perhaps there is a little embarrassment coming from the South - or perhaps dont fell attached to a geographical region.
Just an observation - but it may spark a lively debate!
(ps I live in the South!)
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Andrew, this site is sponsored with ads too! A police officer in Manchester does the same job in Kent. One is in the north & the other is in the south. What else is there to compare?
Anna, if you look at the site you will see. https://www.indeed.co.uk/salaries/Police-Officer-Salaries
You said there was a disparity in the wages, not me 
. I was just pointing out your two areas of comparison are nowhere near equal to compare, to get a true idea if there is a Nort/South divide.
Detail of wages for police officers should not be sourced from ad based employment sites. Try the government based sites or the government.
I thought this was a friendly forum, may not post anything in futureâŚeeeek
Edit- link for Pay Scales Police https://www.westmidspolfed.com/advice-regs/?/Pay/Pay-Scales. National scale published locally
Maybe a bit misleading though because doesnât the term âpolice officerâ make most people think of uniformed policemen upholding the law, and the âjobsâ referred to here arenât that. I donât think the police force recruits via indeed does it, you canât just apply for a job as a police constable or a detective chief inspector - you join the cadets or apply to join the police force and if youâre selected they send you on a training course and your career starts from there. The jobs on indeed range from volunteer roles with no pay at all which skew the statistics (Thames are advertising numerous volunteer roles), to specialised support roles like cyber crime and forensics. So Iâm sorry but again I canât help feeling itâs all a bit random.
This is a friendly forum, Andrew. We are having a discussion & I have not been anything but polite! Perhaps you could suggest just how we can compare lifestyles in the north of the country with those in the south?
Read your link to West Midlands Police Federation & although there is a national pay scale it seems to be advisory only & can be changed - âThe chief officer of police may, after consultation with the local policing body, assign any officer to pay point 1 on the basis of local recruitment needs or the possession of a policing qualification or relevant experience other than those specified in sub-paragraph (ii) of this note;â
Anna, "you canât just apply for a job as a police constable or a detective chief inspector"
Actually you can - hereâs one!
Job Description
Cheshire Constabulary
ADVERT ACTING ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE
Applications are invited from Chief Superintendents who are looking for development for the post of Acting Assistant Chief Constable in Cheshire Constabulary. The position is to commence right away and applicants should be available for a minimum of 3 months with the possibility of further extension up to 6 months.
And here are some of the non bobby on the beat salaries -
More GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE Security & Public Safety salaries
Average Salary
Detective
10 salaries reported
ÂŁ40,624 per year
Correctional Officer
6 salaries reported
ÂŁ27,181 per year
Technical Security Threat Intelligence Officer
9 salaries reported
ÂŁ18,807 per year
Security Officer
8 salaries reported
ÂŁ21,433 per year
Crime Reduction Manager
5 salaries reported
ÂŁ21,704 per year
Detective inspector or Detective constable?
Hi Mark, I know it is Friendly, hence my âlaughing facesâ 
.
Yes, Chierf officers can allow recruits to joim at scale 1 and not the ÂŁ19000 that the government suggested. But as you see the rest of the federated ranks pay is Nationally set apart from the London Weighting.
When it comes to Chief officers it used to be the Police Authority who determined a Chief Cons wage, now the PCC I assume. They will usually vary dependant on area covered and staff.
I would assume GMP pay theirs more than Kent, as GMP is the second largest in the country.
Take care, hope I didnât come over as rude.
A very good reply Anna, the majority of jobs that have been detailed in the post are support staff. Not Police Officers, thus, the idea of Police pay is skewed.