ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the factors that led to the severe decline of Britain's principal staple industries, the impact of this decline in widening regional differentials, and the limited success of industry, bank, and government-sponsored initiatives in addressing the crisis in the staple industries. The 1920s witnessed the onset of high and persistent unemployment concentrated in the industrial areas of 'outer Britain'. Britain's combination of labour-intensive techniques and relatively high wages produced an unusually high ratio of labour to total costs. Structural and organisational impediments to modernisation imposed a major competitive disadvantage on Britain's staple industries. The importance of domestic market-orientation to regional prosperity is illustrated by the two most prosperous staple industry regions – the East Midlands and Yorkshire. Coal mining was a major employer in both these regions. In coal mining, studies have found relatively little specific worker opposition to the introduction of mechanisation, conflict instead focusing on the working arrangements and remuneration that accompanied it.
