Mike Carter’s piece (My walk through the wasteland whose people voted leave, 27 June) rightly shows abhorrence for the grossly irresponsible economic policies of the first Thatcher government and their impact on radically reducing the number of industrial jobs. But understanding the plight of deindustrialised parts of Britain is not helped by the implication that this process began in the 1980s. Industrial employment in Britain began to decline in the 1950s, and in the two decades before Thatcher came to power hundreds of thousands of such jobs were lost in industries such as coalmining, shipbuilding, textiles and heavy engineering. It is also important to note that similar patterns are common across western Europe. If we are to successfully address the enormous problems caused by deindustrialisation, we must be clear how and why this process has developed. Thatcher’s policies may have needlessly exacerbated the scale and speed of this contraction, but to see them as the only cause is not helpful to our understanding of what has happened in Britain in recent decades.
Jim Tomlinson
Professor of economic and social history, University of Glasgow
• I do not wish to offer any support to Boris Johnson, but he did not break Britain. Margaret Thatcher broke Britain, John Major broke Britain, Tony Blair broke Britain, David Cameron and Nick Clegg broke Britain, and all the little fillers in between. Maybe you should reprint the excellent article by Mike Carter every day for the next three months. Until we start to rebalance the country, we are in for a bumpy ride, no matter who the PM or leader of the opposition are. The sooner this message gets through, the better for everyone.
Les Jones
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
• Mike Carter’s article highlights the deep divisions in our society. In the Times in July 2013 the chancellor stressed the need to start investing in science and infrastructure right around the country, and not just in London and the south-east. To what extent has this happened? Manchester has certainly seen some progress, including a £60m building specifically for the development of graphene, but the main bulk of expenditure continues to be poured into London. Recently, while in the capital, I visited the nearly complete Crick Institute for biomedical research near King’s Cross station. The cost of this? £600m – almost 10 times the cost of the Manchester graphene building.
Robert Oak
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
