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I've come to the house of one man who has chronicled the industrial decline of this area
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I'm going to speak to Pip Fallow, who's the author of Dragged Up Proper
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Pip, nice to see you. How's it going? Yes, good to see you. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you very much
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Shall we just come in through here? Yes, come this way. Grand
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Well, obviously today is a big day. It's parts of the country, like where we are
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that are really going to be listening out for what the Chancellor has to say. What would you like to hear
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Well, these are the de-industrialised zones we've laid idle for 40 years now
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I don't mean to be gloomy about it, but there's a very big sense of people not being listened to
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I think that people up here just think that they'll get what they're given
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You know, they didn't want the coal industry to shut. They didn't want the pits to shut
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You know, they didn't want the steelworks to go. They have no say. There's a big feeling they've got no say
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And there's a lot of apathy comes with that. Is budget day big up? Yeah, I would have to say no
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People are just going to take it on the chin wherever they get. Now, of course, in your book, Dragged Up Proper
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you talk about the industrial decline of this area, the areas that used to be producing so much wealth for this country
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the areas around here that used to be the areas that would generate the money that the Chancellor would spend And now these are the areas that are sadly in receipt of so much benefit Is there costing
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Yeah don't want to be a draw on the system you know they want to contribute but you have
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to lay that platform out you know it needs dragging back the basics I know the budget's
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going to tweak you know sugar tax and people up here have got bigger problems to worry about
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than a bit of sugar tax, two pound here and one pound there being tweaked here and tweaked there
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I think we have to draw back the fundamentals. This country is not earning money
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It's losing. It's like a spoiled student. We're spending more. This country's spending more than it's making
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This country needs to give itself a Saturday job. And in order for it to give itself a Saturday job
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it needs that template putting down there where people can go out and get themselves
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involved in earning for the country, earn for themselves individually, earn for the community
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and earn ultimately for the country, and put something back. These people don't want to lie idle
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It's a workforce waiting to go. But we need that template. We need encouragement
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You know, the government needs to look, you know, at what we're important, you know, aluminium, steel
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everything like that, and let us do it. Let us do it. Well, Pip, thanks so much for talking through
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what hopefully will be a significant day for places in the country
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like where we are now. But, Ellie, I suppose the proof will be in what the Chancellor says
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in a few hours' time. It certainly will be. Tom, thank you very much for bringing that to us
