have fallen, while fluctuating in outer London. Nor have London’s leafier suburbs
proved immune to the bite of the recession. The six boroughs that had the biggest
increase in unemployment since the recession are in outer London.
“It is the outer London boroughs of Barking and Newham that now
have the highest unemployment rates”
Suburban High streets are struggling, outer London office blocks increasingly empty,
and many earmarked for conversion into housing. A number of outer London
suburbs are exhibiting the signs of poverty that were once exclusively linked to the
inner city, especially in terms of housing and unemployment. This is not solely
attributable to new arrivals in outer London. It is the result of the changing
circumstances of those who have long been established in the suburbs.
In light of this, it is no surprise that Labour are targeting ‘middle England’
suburbanites, those experiencing the cost of living crisis on a daily basis; in places
such as Brent Central, Enfield North, Hendon and Croydon Central.
There will of course be issues that remain of importance to large swathes of outer
London, some more pressing given the current financial climate. Policy interventions
such as the reintroduction of the Zone 2-6 travel card, and the introduction of a bus
ticket that covers a set time period rather than a single journey, would indicate our
ability to offer practical solutions to cost of living concerns.
Ticket to City Hall
Labour has to be cautious, however, of assuming that this ‘great inversion’ constitutes
a reversal of the doughnut. While such grand narratives are appealing, they risk
overlooking other important trends in the relationship between inner and outer
London.
One such example is the issue of housing tenure. The inner city is increasingly the
preserve of the renter, whether the ‘buy to leave’ foreign investor, or the number of
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