Changing Britain – the view from Hull

Arriving in twilight by road, the lights are already ablaze on the Humber Bridge. It’s a spectacular suspension bridge, I’d never seen it before, never been to Hull either.

As you glide into the city on the dual carriageway, I was struck by the scale of industrial and commercial entities along the river bank. The medical company Smith & Nephew and many more besides. Hull City’s football ground on the left is a tidy white round modern looking deal.

By the time I settled in my smart new one chain hotel overlooking the river in the East of Hull, and gazed down on the striking Victorian nineteenth century buildings below, I thought, not much wrong with Hull.

That feeling was intensified by one of the best fish suppers I have eaten in a long time, taken upstairs in a pretty Georgian house on the Quayside.

I hit the ground the next morning with a thump. Tramping the streets of the miles of estates I had missed on my left whilst being mesmerized on my right by that bridge.

Unemployment is a third higher here than the national average. Like Luton (where I will report from tomorrow), Hull sports 70 per cent on benefit on most of these developments.

But I also encountered brave entrepreneurs who are trying to battle their way toward turning Hull from the ‘end of the road’, to the beginning of it.

Tim Rix has kept his 500 employees in his shipping and haulage conglomerate working. He’s diversified rapidly to take up the recession’s slack.

Andy Ince has transformed the bankrupt Atlas caravan company – which closed eighteen months ago with the loss of 330 jobs, into a new Atlas entity making the same caravans for less. Ince and his workers have all taken 20-30% pay cuts.

But did I find a yearning for change?

Is the Labour party dead? Is Cameron the knight on the blue charger? Is Clegg being buoyed by the good works of the Lib Dem Council? Is the BNP taking up the Westminster sleaze slack?

Ah, you’ll have to watch tonight’s Channel 4 News for that!