Middlesbrough 'most vulnerable' in England to spending cuts

The Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough

Kirsty and Phil from Channel 4's Location, Location, Location once named it as the worst place to live in Britain.

So perhaps people in the town might not be too surprised to find they've ended up at the bottom of another list.

Research commissioned by the BBC suggests Middlesbrough has the least resilient economy in England.

In other words, it could suffer the most from any economic shocks - including the big public sector cuts in the offing.

The research was carried out by Experian for a series of programmes examining the potential impact of the Government's imminent Comprehensive Spending Review.

The study looked at the strength of the business base (start-ups, insolvencies and the like), the skills and earnings of the local workforce, the levels of deprivation and other factors such as crime rates and house prices.

It then ranked all the local authorities across England and put Middlesbrough 324th and bottom.

The reasons for its vulnerability are multifold. It's got the third-highest number of people living on benefit in England, 15,000 people living there have no qualifications, and more than four out of ten 10 work in the public sector.

Not good news then. It would suggest the town will always find it harder than anywhere else to bounce back from misfortune.

But you won't be surprised to know that's not the view of Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon.

The former "Robocop" rejects the survey as purely academic.

In an interview with Teesside ex-pat and TV presenter Kirsten O'Brien, he says the only way you can really judge the town's resilience is to meet the people and see the improvements that are being made.

And he has a point.

Compared to a decade ago, the town is a different place.

The new Anish Kapoor artwork "Temenos" is playing a central part in the regeneration of Middlesbrough's Middlehaven area

On top of that Teesside University is officially ranked as the best in the country.

And with that has come a growing confidence amongst townspeople.

But, even the bullish Ray Mallon, admits there is still some way to go to get locals off benefits and into work, and convince the outside world that Middlesbrough has changed.

He wants tax breaks to attract manufacturers in and hopes a new Local Enterprise Partnership of business and councils in Teesside can help the whole area.

And there are some encouraging signs. One in 10 of the businesses in the town are in new high-tech growth industries.

But of course Middlesbrough doesn't stand alone. It needs a thriving regional economy too.

And the Experian survey has some worrying news on that score.

Many parts of the North East also rank low on its resilience table.

Redcar and Cleveland came 319th, Hartlepool 316th, South Tyneside 313th, and Sunderland 308th.

Even the region's most regenerated areas - Newcastle and Gateshead - only make it to 259th and 280th respectively.

The whole region then could be vulnerable in the months and years ahead.

Is this a counsel for despair?

It's certainly worrying, but what it really represents is a test for decision-makers both in the region and in Westminster.

The Government says it wants to "rebalance" the economy. It wants areas like the North East to become less dependent on public sector jobs by encouraging the private sector to grow.

If that happens then the region will actually be significantly less vulnerable in the future.

But that's a big if, and it's hard to believe there won't be a some pain in Middlesbrough and beyond before it happens.

You can watch a special debate about the impact of cuts on our region in Spending Review: The Look North Debate at 10.35 on BBC1 this evening.

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