Cornish pay gap getting worse

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 7th Jun 2007

The pay gap between Cornwall and the rest of the country is getting worse, according to research commissioned for the Liberal Democrats. Whereas in 1979 weekly wages in Cornwall were 80% of the national average, data for 2006 shows that Cornish gross weekly wages amounted to just three-quarters of the national figure.

The House of Commons Research, commissioned by Cornwall's Liberal Democrat MPs, shows that over the last twenty years mean average weekly wages in Cornwall have consistently remained below national averages.

The Cornish figure for 1979 was £72 a week compared to £90 nationally. While by 2006 Cornish wages had risen to £412 a week before tax, the national average - £546 a week before tax - has risen at a faster rate, meaning that in relative terms Cornish employees are actually worse off than they used to be.

As a result annual incomes in Cornwall average at less than £17,600, almost £4000 lower than English averages. This is despite hundreds of millions of pounds of European Objective One Funding for Cornwall - which is believed to have boosted local business, but not yet incomes.

Commenting, MP for Truro & St Austell Matthew Taylor said:

"For eighteen years under the Conservatives Cornish incomes fell further and further behind the rest of the UK, due to lack of Government support and successive economic recessions. In 1997 Liberal Democrat MEP Robin Teverson initiated the successful campaign for European Objective One support, but it seems that Cornwall is still not catching up with the rest of the UK. Yet the county faces some of the highest costs in the country, including rocketing house prices and crippling water bills.

"The Liberal Democrat proposal for a specific Cornwall Development Agency to manage the next and final round of European funding, as part of the proposals for a single council for Cornwall, is a vital step to reversing this. Too much time and energy has been wasted until now going through the distant and unnecessary regional and national bureaucracy for every penny of Cornwall's money."

Shadow Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson and Falmouth and Camborne MP Julia Goldsworthy added:

"Cornwall's economy and average incomes need to increase dramatically before the county can keep up with the nation. Combined with house prices continuing to soar, it's no surprise that many of Cornwall's most able and talented people feel they have no choice but to leave the county, in order to earn a living wage and to afford to buy a home.

"A Development Agency for Cornwall would ensure that all the organisation's resources would be focused on tackling the problems that currently block Cornish economic growth."