What was a cause of Liverpool’s economic decline?

As usual guiri has to be NASTY about us in Liverpool and Manchester. THE IRISH made the city the great one it is today!!!! They also contributed to its greatness over many generations ago!!!

So she WAS there ONCE and hence the expert? NOT welcome back!!!

There is no one reason, but the start of the decline can be traced back to cotton imports declining due to the cotton industry in Lancashire being undercut by Asian cotton producers in the late 19th century. Containerisation, and the decision to tie the country closer to Europe also contributed (the one place Liverpool is geographically badly placed to trade with is Europe). There was a diversification into other industries but these too have been hit by modernisation, For example the ford plant in Halewood Builds as many cars but much of the work is done by robots in The range rover plant now.

The overriding reason however is the continuing centralisation of power and resources of the country in an overheated and crowded South East of England and a Lononopolis which sucks the life blood and talent out of the rest of the country.

A couple of cowardly answers from users who first have no email and second fail to state where they originated from

I can't be bothered wasting my time on a question that has been already thoroughly answered many times before..

We aren't interested in what happened thirty years ago. More interested in the present moment and today Liverpool IS a fine City and to you knockers Kiss my @@se

Scouser born and bred

Hello,

The cause of Liverpool's decline, as with other traditionally industrial hubs in the UK, was the general decline in manufacturing during the 1970's and 80's.

Thousands lost their jobs at that time as the UK economy moved from manufacturing to services. Manufacturing's decline was hastened by a sharp appreciation of the UK currency during the mid 1970's due to things:

1. UK North Sea Oil production really got going around 1974, and peaked around 1982, creating a huge demand from international customers for UK oil. That made the UK currency value shoot up which meant that all other exports (i.e. primarily manufactured goods) became more expensive to overseas customers. Those customers quickly moved the custom to other countries as the UK became less competitive.

2. As of 1979, the UK Conservative party lead by Margaret Thatcher came into power on the back of a pledge to curb inflation (which was high at the time). To do this the government pursued a 'tight monetary policy' i.e. they put up UK interest rates which made UK securities more valuable to overseas investors. Demand for UK securities shot up again causing an increase in the value of the UK currency - further squeezing the manufacturing sector.

All in all, over 3 million UK manufacturing jobs were lost during this time, and they were focused in areas such as Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sunderland (i.e. the North of England). The South of England was relatively unscathed as its economy was much more service driven e.g. London financial services. For the most part, services are not as tradable as manufactured goods, so foreign customers are less impotant for the service sector.

None of this would have mattered if the UK labour market was flexible as is the case in the USA (i.e. if jobs are lost in one area, you move to another area). Sadly, the labour market in the UK is not flexible. Families stayed put and endured long term unemployment. To this day there is mass 3rd generation unemployment in places like Liverpool. Children have grown up in houshold where nobody works. That kind of upbringing leads to much lower aspirations in children, the result - poor schooling and education attainment, high truancy, anti-social behaviour, soft and hard drug use, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy and a general decline in society.

The real problem is that once this kind of situation takes hold, it is almost impossible to reverse. This is a particular worry now that the UK (as elsewhere) is once again facing a once in a generation economic decline and mass unemployment!

Hope this helps!

You left off the unions.

When container shipping was being introduced to the UK,the unions refused to adapt and allow the docks to be modernised.

The shipping owners knew that container shipping was not going to go away and needed to find ports that would accept modernisation,they did this and these Ports flourished.

The same thing happened in a number of other British Ports including London,

The sad thing is that our unions have not learned,they will not adapt to the modern world and conditions

The end of the slave trade.

The problems of the tobacco industry.

Mass immigration from Ireland.

The Trade Unions. (especially those which destroyed the docks).

The Communist led Labour Party. (Derek Hatton did more than Hitler to destroy the place and enhance its reputation for work-shy people).

The people always vote Labour and are thus taken for granted by that party and left to stagnate by the other parties.

Sectarianism.

Container shipping is not a cause of decline. Ipswich and Rotterdam do VERY well out of their container ports. The problem is that Liverpudlians have a justified reputation for being on strike most of the time. Big business will not be held to ransom by unions without taking revenge on the source of the trouble. In this case, Liverpool.

Regarding emigration. It is difficult , like, for Liverpudlians, like, to get a ,like, job ,like, anywhere else, like, because their accent is so difficult , like , to understand , like.

Immigration is not now a problem. Nobody wants to go to Liverpool. It has some of the most deprived areas in the country.

I do not believe that the EU has even bothered to sanction Liverpool for anything other than its poverty.

Your causes of Liverpool's decline are not causes, just lame excuses and urban myths propagated by a dying city living on handouts.

Did you know that Liverpool is East of Edinburgh?