Revealed, the Northern towns under threat of robot revolution

TOWNS and cities that were worst hit by the loss of industry in the Eighties are most at risk of a second surge in unemployment triggered by robots taking jobs, a report warns today.

Researchers have identified 10 towns and cities, most of them in the North, that have low productivity and are highly vulnerable to the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in which technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) will make some jobs redundant.

The towns named by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) report as being most at risk of accelerating industrial decline are Doncaster, Wigan, Blackpool, Mansfield, Barnsley, Bradford, Plymouth, Stoke-on-trent, Wakefield and Dudley.

Cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham are found to be well placed to ride the automation wave thanks to their superior transport links, cultural attractions and dynamic leadership. The report calls for £1.4billion of government money – equivalent to £500 for every one of the 2.8million residents affected – to be devolved to local councils for infrastructure investment, urban regeneration, and programmes to reduce social breakdown and poverty. It also recommends employers’ national insurance payments be scrapped for high growth businesses in those areas to attract jobs.

Andy Cook, chief executive of the CSJ, said: “Parts of the UK are trapped in a cycle of deprivation that is only set to get worse as the job market changes ... to allow the residents of these ‘left behind’ towns to seize the opportunities in the future jobs market, they need a policy blueprint that provides better transport links, better teachers in schools, better housing and dynamic local leadership to raise aspirations and create opportunities.”

The 61-page report finds factors such as crime, drug use, family breakdown and educational failure make it harder for these post-industrial towns to build economic momentum.

The think tank has analysed job growth figures and calculated that the gap in employment growth between the prosperous South East and the “rust belt” regions in the North and the Midlands is only due to widen.

Job growth in London is expected to be double that of the East Midlands and three times the rate of growth in the North East.

In the West Midlands, employment growth is due to grind into reverse gear with a drop of 1per cent over the next seven years.