ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the economic, political and social changes that have befallen the city and discusses the apparent consequences of these changes for the people who govern, promote, invest in or simply inhabit Leeds. The central contradiction for the socially excluded of Leeds as for similarly placed people in so many comparable cities across the world is that, on the one hand decision makers in the city need a reservoir of cheap labour with which to attract firms while, on the other hand, practically the only political assistance to the working class is, in effect, is the slim chance for individuals to escape, via pre-school booster programmes. There was something deeply symbolic in a remark made by George Mudie on the House of Commons in February of 2008: On the motorways in the Leeds area in the morning and evening, one can see the number of people who take employment in Leeds and then spend their money elsewhere'.
