Rochdale will recover, says Vince Cable

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Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Vince Cable with Drake Street business owner Ian Sandiford of Sandiford Fine Gifts & Jewellery and Rochdale MP Paul Rowen

In an exclusive interview with Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Vince Cable explained what he believes needs to be done to help in recovering from the worst recession in living memory.

Miss Wild began by asking Mr Cable how he felt about what he had seen and heard from the people of Rochdale who are continuing to struggle through this economic crisis.

Mr Cable said: “This is happening all over the country there are a lot of very good companies that have been through difficult times and they are finding it difficult to cope with this crisis. But the big thing that is avoidable is this squeeze on credit by the banks; several people today have explained that these so called nationalised banks are depriving them of credit and this has to stop, the government hasn’t been firm enough in making sure the banks act in the national interest."

Whether or not Rochdale would ever recover from this crisis was the next question asked, Mr Cable was hopeful of recovery but expressed it won’t just happen overnight. He said: “It will recover eventually, there are some very good companies here, but it is going to be very difficult.

"Even as we get out of the worst we not have got the problem of big cuts in government spending which are bound to effect local people through redundancies in the public sector. I have just seen this happen in my own constituency and I am afraid to say this is going to hit all parts of the country.

"Things like this must be carefully managed to make sure the recession isn’t made worse.”

When asked about what he thinks is key to getting out of the recession, Mr Cable reiterated what he had told the business people of the borough, he said: “The key is bank lending – we need to get the banks working properly and make sure the government supports investment in infrastructure and education so we don’t get caught in a downward spiral.”

Mr Cable explained there are lessons to be learnt: “We must learn from the biggest mistake, and that was letting the bank system get out of control and letting housing get out of control; that wasn’t a specific problem in Rochdale but nationally it has been.

“I worry very seriously that the government and the city of London are far too concerned about getting back to business rather than learning their lesson.

“We should be trying to re-balance the economy in terms of industry and geography. For example in the North of England, Scotland and Wales, key roles can be played. The British economy has been too centred on London and that needs to be reversed.

Before the interview came to a close, Mr Cable was asked about the budget, and what he would have done differently to Alastair Darling this week. Mr Cable feels that Mr Darling "didn’t do very much at all".  Mr Cable said: “The key thing missing, from a Liberal Democrat point of view, apart from the bank lending problem, was to do with tax policy.

“Britain is a very unequal country in income and wealth and we think that people on low wages, anybody earning less that £10,000 a year should not be paying income tax.

“If we change this, three and a half million people will be lifted out of tax, and in a town like Rochdale, were there isn’t a high pay rate and lots of women work part time, we want to give an incentive to work.

“That is the big thing we will be campaigning on and there was nothing about it in the budget.”

Following the interview, Miss Wild accompanied Vince Cable and Paul Rowen MP for a walk along Drake Street to show Mr Cable more about Rochdale. He visited Sandifords Jewellers and spoke to Ian and Janet Sandiford about working in Rochdale and how they are managing in the recession.

Mr Sandiford spoke to Mr Cable about his 40 years of trading on Drake Street and explained although things can be difficult they have continued to work at it.