Jon Snow’s snapshot of ‘Changing Britain’

There are few places in Britain that have felt the force of the recession as Hull; more jobs have gone in the Humber area than in almost any other British conurbation. Analysts fear more to come.

We travelled to this northern city to find what the impact of the economic squeeze would have on this election.

From local entrepreneurs, to those working in front line services, as well as families on long-term benefit, we gauged the effects of joblessness and economic insecurity, as well as the impact of potential public service cuts.

Are people blaming the Government for their predicament or is raw fear of recession pushing voters to Labour as the traditional party of the welfare state?

Hull is the centre of caravan-making in the UK. Before the credit crunch, thirty thousand caravans a year came off assembly lines by seven major companies. That number has now halved.

We visited Andy Innes, commercial director at Atlas caravans. When the banks wouldn’t support his business any more, the administrators were called in and three hundred workers were made redundant.

With a loan from the council, he’s managed to re-establish the company, now called Atlas Leisure homes, employing some of his ex-colleagues. But the survival of the new business is down to staff pay-cuts and demotion for most, with some former managers now working on the production line.

Andy, like other business leaders we spoke to, believes tackling the national debt is a top priority. The feeling amongst local employers seems to be that more closures and redundancies are inevitable if taxes stay high and business confidence in UK plc falls.

Niven Baron was a manager in a caravan construction company, before being made redundant.

He returned to work as a constructor, but was forced to take a big pay-cut.

Many believe it’s time for the public sector to take some of the pain as well.

The city council is Hull’s biggest employer. Amazingly the number of public sector jobs is still rising but those who work in the public sector fear front-line services are in the firing line.

We spoke to Tony Graham who has been refuse-collecting in Hull for over 20 years. He had his pay cut last year and is worried that a change in government could threaten his job further.

After the economy, polls show immigration is the second most important issue in this election. With jobs scarce, competition from the global job market is not always welcome.

Thousands of immigrants have arrived in Hull and specialist job recruitment agencies have sprung up to supply East European workers for lower-paid factory jobs. The picture painted by some of those looking for work is that those are jobs that local people don’t want to do anyway. Nonetheless, resentment is also evident and in some areas immigrants are being blamed.

Nowhere is Hull’s economic malaise more apparent than on its housing estates. The boom years under Labour bypassed many of them where successive generations of family members have never worked.

On the Orchard Park estate we met families struggling to get out of the benefits trap. For many, there is little point in working when the minimum wage is less than their unemployment and housing benefits.

Protecting public services is top of the agenda. Just eight miles from Hull is the Minster town of Beverley. But here the bustling market and busy streets fly in the face of the deepest recession in decades.

Voters here are also weighing up their futures. And the maths is simple – these are some of the people paying the taxes which pay the soaring social bills in Hull.

It’s a reality colouring how they view the election Can change at a General Election put Hull back together again?

The non-voting despair on the estates contrasts starkly with the spirit in business, yearning for support and opportunity but saying public finances have to be reigned in for everyone’s sake.

But the yearning for big change does not seem to seize the majority here and the fear of paying down the deficit stalks every individual who depends upon the public sector. Competing forces which seem presently deadlocked.