Alistair Darling increased the levels of his undoubted popularity with the UK public by announcing some interesting cuts and about turns in his pre-budget cuts. The first was that VAT cut to 15% as recently as March in the Budget, is to be reversed as of 1 January 2010. Income tax bands are to be tampered with, meaning that people who earn £43,000 or more will feel the pain that little bit earlier. On the plus side national insurance bands are to be reduced downwards by a further 0.5% from April 2011, meaning that those earning less than £20,000 will no longer need to pay any contributions. State pensions and child benefits are also set to rise in April of next year.

Meanwhile it has been reported that U.K. consumer confidence stayed close to the highest level in the past eighteen months in November as shoppers have become more hopeful for the economy’s prospects in the coming year. 2010. The proportion of shoppers expecting the economy to worsen in the next six months fell to its lowest level since the survey began in 2004.

As expected, the Bank of England has held UK interest rates at the record low of 0.5%, whilst announcing that there are to be no changes to its programme of pumping newly-created money into the economy – so-called quantitative easing (QE). The Bank cut interest rates to 0.5% in March of this year in an attempt to boost the recession-hit economy while in November; they announced that another £25 billion would be injected into it, taking the total planned under QE to £200 billion. The bank is expected to wait until the current QE programme runs out in January before considering whether it should be expanded. As Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced earlier this week that he would rather suffer criticism for removing economic support too late than too early, Bank of England policy makers are waiting for the final quarter results to see if Britain has finally escaped the recession, and if the £200 billion spent to aid growth has finally brought some results..

Meanwhile in his pre-budget cuts speech, Darling appeared to back away from the bank bonuses issue, by announcing that there will be no windfall tax on banks, but they will pay a one-off levy of 50% on any bonus above £25,000

The number of loans approved for house purchase rose to 55,300 in October, up 9 percent from September and 43 percent higher on a year ago, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Thursday. According to an industry body, the amount of buyers has risen from its lowest point in January 2009 when only 23,000 loans were advanced. The number of loans for remortgaging remained weak, however, unchanged from September’s level of 33,000, one of the lowest levels since the series began in 2002.

Nokia have announced that they are to close their flagship store on London’s Regent Street, as a result of slow sales and poor customer traffic. The remainder of the company’s UK stores are to remain open. Nokia were reported to have spent £4 million creating the Regent Street store that was launched in February 2008, and will close in the first quarter of 2010, Seven other of Nokia’s UK stores, including its Heathrow Terminal 5 outpost, are set to receive a revamp.

Shares in Barclays Plc fell 3.2 percent, to 287.5 pence after allegations that they were withholding a “secret” $5 billion windfall profit from its purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s North American brokerage, despite the fact that the gain was publicly disclosed before the sale closed 15 months ago.

Sterling continued to lose ground against the dollar on Thursday whilst rising slightly against the Euro, as implications of the UK government’s pre-Budget report weighed on the currency,

• Pound/US dollar 1.6278
• Pound/Euro 1.1058

After the UK finance minister forecast that the UK economy will shrink by 4.75 percent this year, rather than the earlier prediction of a 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent decline, the FTSE 100 fell by 0.37 percent to 5,203.89, while the FTSE 250 dropped by 1.24 percent to 8,919.49.

The US trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October as exports rose to their highest level in almost a year, official figures have shown.

The deficit fell to £20.2 billion ($32.9 billion), 7.6% lower than September’s downwardly revised $35.7 billion figure.

Helped by the weaker value of the dollar, US exports increased by 2.6% to $136.8 billion, led by civilian aircraft, cars and computer chips.

Imports rose 0.4% to $169.8 billion. Analysts had predicted the deficit to expand to $36.8 billion.

The value of US exports was the highest since November 2008, the figures from the Commerce Department showed.

The trade deficit is now expected to widen again in 2010 as the US economy continues to recover and consumers buy more imported goods.

On close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 120 points to 10,405.83 and the NASDAQ also rose 21 points to close on 2,190.86.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s unemployment rate fell in November to 5.7% from 5.8% in November, The figures came as a surprise to many analysts who had expected an increase to 5.9%. Australia is one of the few developed economies not to have fallen into recession like its counterparts throughout the world. The Australian economy has benefited from an increase in commodity prices, while exports have received a boost due to demand from China for its iron ore and other raw materials.

Official figures have revealed that orders for Japanese machinery orders fell by 4.5% in October compared with the previous month, with analysts expecting a fall of just 4.3%. The figures come just a day after the Cabinet Office revealed that the Japanese economy grew at a far slower rate in the third quarter than previous estimates showed.

Meanwhile, the price of crude oil dropped on new data from the US Energy Information Administration showing that gasoline stockpiles grew last week while demand declined. The price of oil dipped below $70 a barrel, falling to a two-month low, amid continuing concerns over demand.

US crude for January delivery fell 84 cents to $69.81 a barrel, before settling at $70.13 as it lost ground for the seventh consecutive day.

London Brent crude fell 81 cents to $71.58 a barrel.

financial

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, Barclays Plc, British Economy, British Pound, Cabinet Office, Council of Mortgage Lenders, Credit, Credit Crunch, Currency, Debt, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Finance, Financial News, FTSE, Global Credit Crisis, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Money, Money Markets, Mortgages, NASDAQ, Nokia, pre-budget cuts, Recession, Retail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, VAT

How many hints do we need before the penny drops and the UK public can finally reach the conclusion that the recession is finally over? The latest one comes from the Institute of Chartered Accountants who in a report released last week announced that confidence among business professionals has surged form a negative status to a positive one. Based on their findings, the institute predicts the UK economy will grow by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2009, a reverse on the 0.8% negative growth that the UK economy recorded during the second quarter of the year.

UK building societies continue to be under scrutiny, with the news that possibly five of the largest could be amalgamating over the next couple of years. The number of building societies reporting losses for 2008 is reportedly causing concern in Whitehall, and the latest annual review of performance released shows that since the summer of 2008, seven mergers have already taken place, out of framework of 59 building societies.

Seven months after the U.K. government made a commitment to offer up to £2 billion of loan guarantees for car makers and their suppliers, agreements have yet to be signed. According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, car makers and suppliers, the aid was offered as car sales collapsed during the recession, declining for 14 consecutive months through June.

The Thames Valley property market, once regarded as the UK’s equivalent to Silicon Valley, look to be heading for their lowest rental incomes on record, as the recession continues to hammer the technology industries.

On the FTSE yesterday rising metals prices pushed mining stocks. Kazakhmys led the sector, gaining 5.8 per cent to 980 pence, while compatriot ENRC was up 5.3 per cent to 896½ pence.

Punch Taverns added 4.1 per cent to 107½ pence on strong volume in anticipation a positive trading update due to be released this morning. Analysts announced that they expect trading in the company to have stabilised and that profit pressures are on the wane.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.9 per cent, rising 45.34 points to 4,896.23 for its highest close since early October.

Moving forward at the speed of an express train, the FTSE 250 increased by a further 1.76 % or 153.06 points to close on 8,831.89

Currency markets continued to remain stable on Monday’s trading

• Pound/US dollar 1.6409
• Pound/Euro 1.1481
• Pound/Japanese Yen 154.7475
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7419

US stocks slowed down after four sessions of gains on Monday after a warning over future bank losses saw the markets erase early gains.

The NASDAQ Composite index closed down a mere 2.92 points at 2,017.98, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average found fractional gains to 9,509.28

On Friday General Motors eventually postponed their much awaited decision on whether Canada’s Magna International would be the winning bidder for its Opel brand.

Magna, the world’s third largest auto parts manufacturer, in conjunction with the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, who trade under the title Sberbank, had submitted a joint bid in July to acquire a 55 percent stake in Opel, the troubled financially strapped group’s European division. Brussels-based financial investor RHJ International is the rival bidder.

At their meeting Friday, GM’s board of directors failed to come to a decision whether to accept the winning bid by the Canadian auto company and the Russian bank.

This week French banks announced their intention to lead the way in offering to reinforce rules ¬governing the payment and disclosure of bonuses to their officials. In meetings with Nicolas Sarkozy, president, and Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, bank officials announced the concessions, which will strengthen a code on pay agreed by French banks in February, Designed to curb excessive risk-taking. The announcement, will be undoubtedly be used to bolster France’s position at the forthcoming G20 meeting to be held in Pittsburgh next month.

Oil prices have risen to 10-month highs on fresh signs that the global economic recovery is gathering pace.

US light crude ended Monday up 48 cents to $74.37 a barrel, while London’s Brent crude advanced seven cents to finish at $74.26

The rise came after official figures showed that new industrial orders in the 16 nations that use the Euro rose more than expected in June.

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Tags: Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Christine Lagarde, Currency, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Economy, ENRC, Finance, Financial News, FTSE, G20, General Motors, Global Credit Crisis, GM, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Kazakhmys, Magna, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Nicolas Sarkozy, Opel, Punch Taverns, Recession, Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, Silicon Valley, Stock Markets, U.K. government, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, US stocks

Although your bank manager will tell you that he or she is your friend, and that they have your best interest at heart when they cut your overdraft or credit card levels, don’t believe them. The truth is that banks thrive on people who are in financial trouble and know exactly how to play on your weakened situations to continue to feed their insatiable drive for profit.

More so, that when you go to them on your knees asking for just a little more leeway, they will already have made sure that you will find it difficult if not impossible to find alternative finance elsewhere, and will take full advantage by providing you with additional finance at horrendously high interest rates.

The UK public must surely have learned one expensive and painful lesson from the current financial crisis and that is to keep the credit under control, and to try to do so by achieving and maintaining a credit rating that is as pure and white as the first snows of winter.

And believe it or not, despite prodigious efforts by the FSA to prevent this from happening, lenders, be they banks, building societies or credit card companies, are pooling their efforts to make sure that people who have fallen into debt in the past will find it very difficult to improve their credit rating.

There is, and always has been, a great anomaly about how finance providers look upon a potential client. If someone has money, why should they need to borrow it? Yet in many cases it is sensible to borrow money, particularly for a mortgage, or to buy a new car or even some major household appliance. Banks carry out tens of thousands of transactions every month, although secured loans are much less attractive to them than unsecured loans, where they can make more than twice the interest.

The sad truth of the matter is that if people are in severe financial trouble the last place they should set foot in is a bank, building society or credit card company, except to ask for an extended agreement on the same terms. Under no circumstances should they agree to accept a new refinancing agreement which will certainly be on prohibitive terms.

Only time will cure most people’s problems, and eventually better times will come. In the meantime it is everyone’s interest to keep the head down, draw in the belt even tighter, and repair each credit status. Learning to be less credit dependent will be a challenge for all of us, but it will be justified by never having to bend your knees to your bank manager again.

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Tags: bank manager, Banking, Building Society, Credit, Credit Card, Credit Crunch, credit rating, Current Account, Debt, extended agreement, Finance, finance providers, financial trouble, FSA, Interest Rates, Loans, Money, Money Management, Mortgage, Mortgages, negative equity, Savings, UK Banks, UK Credit Cards, unsecured loans

It can be no coincidence that a company such as Tesco, who has such a strong feel of the street, is pulling out all the stops to get into high street banking. The reason has to be that in no time in history has there been so little trust between the public, the business community and the banks.

And the great irony is that the UK publics are now the largest shareholders in the banks that they seem very reluctant to do business with. And vice versa. Seemingly the outwardly placid Alistair Darling’s read the riot act on Sunday with leaders of the UK banking community, at a specially convened meeting held at 11 Downing Street, with his main contention being that the banks continue to suppress the growth or re-birth of UK business by refusing to free credit at the levels required to kick start the economy

The sad fact is that for many years the UK government and UK financial sector have worked hand-in-hand to fund government projects and increase economic activity within the UK. However, since the worldwide recession, the reputation of the traditional UK banking sector has become so tarnished and a barrier of distrust has been built that it seems impossible to break down. public any number one and the distance between the government and the sector has never been greater.

As banking leaders left the meeting they were apparently under a much stronger impression that action has to be taken, and in the short term. However, it still remains to be seen whether the UK banking leaders will actually fall in line

What does remain certain however is that in spite of the tens of billions of pounds spent on rescuing banks, companies are still struggling to gain access to finance and the UK government programme that injected £125 billion of the public’s money into the economy has so far produced results that can please nobody..

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Alistair Darling, Bank, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Downing Street, Economics, Finance, Financial News, Money, Recession, Tesco, UK Banks, UK financial sector, UK government, UK Recession

It wasn’t that long ago that if you went to your bank of building society looking to earn some interest on your deposit account, all you would get was a blank expression. A sign that things are getting better in the UK economy in general and banks and building societies in particular is that there are some fairly generous interest rates around if you are prepared to shop around online.

For example if you access Abbey National Building Society, online or even better through the http://www.bank–accounts.co.uk/ web site you will be able to discover that currently Abbey are offering interest rates on deposits starting at an annual rate of 2.5%. They can even get as high as 4.15% if you are prepared to close off some of your capital for two years.

Alliance and Leicester is another bank worth checking out for your online savings account. They are offering a fixed rate of 3.15% annually with no withdrawal restrictions. If you want to set aside a sum of up to £2,500 pounds Alliance and Leicester are currently paying out 6% annually.

Halifax International, a member of the HBOS group, have also been sharpening their pencil of late, and have come up with a 4% annual rate for online deposits of up to £24,000 as long as they do not exceed £2,000 monthly.

Banking online has never been easier, and the chances are that as the economy continues its recovery, the banks will continue to offer as generous rates as they can. After all it’s your money that will help to fire the UK economy, and you can deposit your savings and earn reasonable interest rates with total confidence. Nowadays it has never been easier to transfer money from account to account so it is time well spent to check out where the best interest rates can be found. Always begin your search by clicking on http://www.bank–accounts.co.uk/ to discover the best online interest rates.

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Tags: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Bank, Banking, Economy, Finance, Financial News, Halifax, HSBC, UK Banks

If the UK public needed any further proof that the recklessness driven by greed of the people that they trusted to run their banking system had driven their country to the verge of bankruptcy lies in the discoveries in a recent report that Great Britain, once the jewel in the crown of European commerce, now holds the highest percentage of toxic assets of financially distressed companies in all of western Europe.

In the days of the financial boom, and even before- hand , the British economy was substantially influenced by its financial sector, which made a tremendous contribution to growth in the United Kingdom. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, was heard to say on more than one occasion that “London has risen to the challenge of the global economy and has become the world’s leading financial centre.”

In those halcyon days before the collapse of the financial system, London was indeed the Camelot of the European financial system , home to the highly influential London Stock Exchange, as well as the cream of the UK’s most important banks such as Barclays, Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and HSBC as well as several hundred international banks.

As the extent of the financial collapse began to hit home, it has come to light that the UK banks now currently hold just under a quarter of all the distressed assets in Europe. In terms of percentages, the UK banks were holding as security 24 percent of the assets all distressed companies in 2009, while Germany has 14 per cent, Italy 12 per cent and France just 6 per cent.

Those in the know were not surprised to discover the extent of the UK’s banks coverage, given the greater leverage that the British banks rushed to take on during the bubble years of private equity.

The European manufacturing sector has been the worst hit in recent years, with statistics showing that in July 2009, 41 per cent of distressed companies came from this sector manufacturing.

In the last few years, the UK accounted for 34 per cent of leveraged buyout (or LBO), or highly-leveraged transaction (HLT). This recipe for financial disaster for UK banks occurs when the assets of an acquired company are used as collateral for the borrowed capital, sometimes combined with the assets of the acquiring company.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Alistair Darling, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, bankruptcy, Barclays, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Debt, Economics, Economy, Finance, Financial News, Global Economy, HSBC, Lloyds, London Stock Exchange, Money, Money Management, Money Markets, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Recession

It’s almost like believing in Father Christmas or the tooth fairies, we want to believe that the recession is bottoming out, but something in our sub-conscious tells us it can’t be real.

Admittedly, news that the first signs of growth in industrial output in more than a year did lead a well know research group to announce that we did see the recession’s bottom for the first time in March, and every month since then the gap has been increasingly widening.

And there are some facts to prove it. According to information provided by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, the UK economy grew by 0.1 percent in May and by 0.2 percent in April, offsetting contractions of around 0.5 per cent in March.

Most significantly, there are lots of signs around that the UK services sector has begun to display signs of growth, which makes for significantly good news, on account of the fact that services account for around 75 percent of the UK economy.

Data from the manufacturing sector of UK industry is encouraging, with strong indications afoot that the second quarter of 2009 (April to June) is likely to see at least some stabilisation in gross domestic product, and possibly some growth. However industrialist have been heard already announcing their fears that any upturn in industrial production could be a bit of an Indian summer ( or spring) as the increase in demand is likely to ease off as spending in both the consumer and business sectors is far from strong.

These doubts were strengthened by the normally optimistic Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling who warned yesterday that Britain’s economic recovery could be held in the summer and autumn if oil prices continue their rise.

To be honest, Darling did predict in his Budget address, that any recovery in the UK economy would not begin until the fourth quarter of 2009, a prediction that many leading UK economists were inclined to agreed with.
In a speech yesterday, Darling announced that he was “confident as well as being cautious” over the prospects for the economy, but there are still pretty dark clouds hovering over the horizon.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, British Economy, Economics, Finance, Financial News, Recession

That air of cautious optimism that the UK can’t seem to shake off despite all that is going on around them seems to be continuing. Recent reports have a “significant increase” in interest from potential home buyers. This news comes coupled with the report that the number of people who have sold their property over the last month, despite being on the decrease, have indicated that asking prices are becoming much firmer, and the number of blatant bargain hunters are growing thin.

Just to show that some things never change is the report that four City investment banks have charged the Treasury a small fortune in consultation fees on how to survive the current financial turmoil, largely caused by the banks themselves. The UK Financial Investments (UKFI) paid out no less than £9 million on such fees as well as an £1.2 million of taxpayers’ hard earned money on salaries during the first five months that the body was in operation.

Leading British manufacturer and provider of IT solutions Viglen, owned by city businessman, Sir Alan Sugar, has been awarded a prestigious contract worth up to £30 million by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to supply a range of computer equipment to the public sector, beating of a string of overseas suppliers in the process.
The contract, to be carried out over the next 24 months, calls for Viglen to supply around 70,000 computer to over 45 central and local government councils, as well as NHS and local education authorities.

The contract was awarded after Viglen successfully completed a tender process, in the form of a unique and innovative reverse online auction, set up in accordance with EU directives by the Buying Solutions Company on behalf of the OGC. The aim of the auction was to achieve a clear picture of the needs of the OGC member bodies over the next two years, and to take advantage of the body’s considerable buying power to get the best possible deal. Officials of the parties involved in organizing the auction estimate that savings of £10 million will be generated by closing a centralised deal.

Mr. Andrew Hornby, who gained fame and a certain amount of notoriety in his former role as chief executive of banking grout HBOS, has been appointed chief executive of private-equity owned retail and drugs distribution Alliance Boots. Hornby will be leaving the world of seven figure salaries behind in his new job, with reports that his annual salary will be a mere £400,000, rising to about £800,000, should he be eligible to receive an annual profit related bonus. It ain’t no “goose that laid a golden egg” but at least it’s a job.
Things were quiet yesterday on the Stock Exchange. Shares in the Lloyd’s insurance underwriter, Chaucer rose by 6.4 per cent to close on 41½p on talk that Brit Insurance had secured financing for a 55p- a-share cash-and-stock offer. On the news, Brit insurance shares also rose by up 0.9 per cent to 191pence. Last month, Chaucer confirmed it was in talks with a number of bidders, among them Pamplona Capital Management, who reportedly would like to acquire a 28.9 percent stake in the company.
The FTSE 100 dropped 33.4 points to close on 4,405.56 while the FTSE 250 finished the day on 7,687.86

With the current political uncertainty surrounding Gordon Brown playing no little part, the pound’s revival drew to a minor halt yesterday.

Pound/US dollar 1.602
Pound/Euro 1.1544
Pound/Japanese Yen 157.4731
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7539

In the United States, it was reported that the ten leading banks ordered by regulators to raise extra funds have begun to initiate sufficient plans that will enable them to strengthen their finances. According to the Federal Reserve who subjected the banks to these stress tests in May they are duty bound to ensure the programmes are implemented effectively. In addition, the US treasury department is also expected to announce in the coming days which of the US banks will be able to repay bail-out funds.
On the news the Dow Jones remained constant up only 1.36 points to 8764.49, while the NASDAQ dropped 7.02 points to close on 1842.4

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has granted a request by interested parties to delay the sale of carmaker Chrysler to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat in order that they can pursue an appeal.

Chrysler entered bankruptcy protection in April following a massive slump in sales brought on by the financial crisis.
On the commodities stage, aluminum rose to its highest level for five months on Monday, despite the fact that recent data by the London Metals Exchange shows record stockpiles of the metal sitting in warehouses. Aluminium’s price has jumped 10 per cent in the past two weeks on expectations of a long overdue recovery in global demand.

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Tags: bankruptcy, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Economics, Finance, Financial News

Despite the doom and gloom that has surrounded UK industry for the last couple of years, there is no small amount of success stories, that we should all take pride in and possibly learn from.

One story that is worthy of regard is at of Andrew Cook, owner of the largest manufactures of steel fittings in the UK, Sheffield Based William Cook and company. Mr. Cook has worked at the plant all his life which was established by his great grandfather in 1881. When Andrew took over the reigns of the company in 1981, the company was relatively small and stable. However in a combination of hunger for growth, drive and considerable ambition. Andrew Cook succeeded in building an industrial giant with turnovers reaching £130 million, and employing more than three thousand people within a decade.

Yet as Andrew Cook had the foresight and the ability to build a huge business, he also had the vision to see the current economic downturn coming and the cataclysmic effect that it would have on the steel industry. Today his company has “slimmed down” to turning over £70 million, with 650 employees in the company’s three plants, two in Sheffield and one in Leeds.

Forever looking forward, the William Cook Company have invested £5 million in automation in their plants during the past four years in areas such as installation of automated machines.

Mr. Cook is renowned within the UK business community for being outspoken, and had harsh words to say on the UK government’s recent decision to award a significantly massive £7 billion to a foreign manufacturing consortium led by Hitachi of Japan
The lesson to be learned from Andrew Cook is that UK industry still has a major place on the global stage, that sentiment for the past can be dangerous, and companies that look forward and invest wisely will always be find their niche.

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Tags: Andrew Cook, Economy, Finance, Financial News, William Cook Company

Despite forecasts to the contrary, recent figures show that unemployment in the major cities of the UK are much higher than that of London, the capital city, on a percentage basis. The figures make for some interesting reading, especially as estimates on future job losses were based on the general assumption that with the virtual collapse of the largely London based financial services industry, the city would be the hardest hot.

Yet the figures show different, with Birmingham, the industrial capital of the UK being the hardest hit, with unemployment levels rising from 5% of the potential work force to 7.3% making for an increase of 12,383 job losses (33,274 in February 2008 to 45,657 in February 2009.

Other major industrial centres suffered from similar percentage downturns in unemployment, according to the list below:

Hull: Increase from 4.8% to 8% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 8,062 to 13,366)
Liverpool: Increase from 5.3% to 7% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 15,208 to 20,055)
Glasgow: Increase from 3.7% to 5.2% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 14,403 to 20,276)
Manchester: Increase from 3.4% to 5.1% from corresponding month in 2008 (from10,836 to 16,069)
Bradford: Increase from 3% to 4.7% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 9,242 to 14,321)
Leeds: Increase from 2.5% to 4.3% from corresponding month in 2008 (12,628 to 21,558)
Sheffield: Increase from 2.5% to 4.1% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 8,463 to 14,017)
Bristol: Increase from 1.8% to 3.5% from corresponding month in 2008 (from 5,057 to 9,771 )

The figures show that unemployment continues to be focused in the north of the country, and especially in geographical regions and sectors of the economy which had always been hardest hit even in times of plenty.

Even after the economy begins to turn around, the future will continue to look bleak in the traditional manufacturing and heavy industry sectors, experts say.

Hopes are that Alasdair Darling will address these issues in his forthcoming budget, and set aside a portion of his economic stimulus cake on creating innovative and long term solutions for the chronic unemployment issues that has pervaded the major Northern population centres through good times and bad.

Currently the unemployment figures give little cause for encouragement, with the number of those joining the jobless queue increasing by 165,000 to 2.03 million, according to figures issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Tags: Credit Crunch, Employment, Finance, Financial News, Recession, UK Banks, UK Recession, UK unemployment figures