Spending Review - The South Today Debate
Rebalancing the economy... or if you're Nick Clegg... standing it on its head, so that the South of England doesn't soak up all the jobs and the North gets some new business.
It's a tough ask. Especially when it is public sector jobs that have to go to reduce the deficit, and the Regional Development Agencies are having to reduce their balancing work.
I've been ploughing through the research that the BBC commissioned on which parts of the country are most vulnerable. We do rather well in the South, though there are some interesting contrasts, which I'll come to in a second, but in a speech today Mr Clegg spelled out his strategy for dealing with the prosperous South.
Top of the list is boosting private sector jobs to replace public sector jobs, through
measures such as the Government's £1 billion regional growth fund and national
insurance breaks.
Those are not available to firms in the South East. It could make the difference of fifty thousand pounds for a firm that decides to set up in Birmingham rather than Oxford -Bournemouth rather than Southampton.
But Nick Clegg admitted that tacking the North-South divide would have to take place on the hoof:
"Of course this recovery, which is starting, is likely to be choppy and uneven," he said. "Of course we appreciate we are dealing with a long-term problem about how we rebalance the economy. That won't be something we can do overnight."
What comes out clearly from the BBC study is that it's not just a simple North South divide:
Berkshire is well placed to withstand future economic turmoil and is a leader at attracting foreign firms, Bracknell, with its links to Heathrow and London, boasts the highest number of foreign-owned businesses in England.
The study also found Slough had the highest number of unemployment claimants in Berkshire followed closely by Reading before a gap to Bracknell, West Berkshire and Windsor and Maidenhead.
Gosport in Hampshire is more dependent on businesses in vulnerable sectors, such as construction, than anywhere in England.
One of the Hampshire town's major employers is Portsmouth Naval Base and the majority of its 79,000 residents are skilled manual labourers. As a result, many will be employed on transient contracts.
Private companies in Oxfordshiremay not have enough capacity to employ people who lose their public sector jobs. Oxford has one of the highest number of employees in vulnerable sectors.
Chairman of Oxfordshire Economic Partnership Frank Nigriello said small firms would not have jobs available.
"While we may be the engine that creates the wealth, we recognise that we need the services to create the community we want to live in"
Mr Nigriello said Oxfordshire had very few large companies, with many people employed in the county's pioneering health services, as well as research and development, including Oxford University.
"If there are massive cuts in the public sector, then Oxfordshire's private sector won't have the resilience. Small businesses don't have the opportunities or availability of jobs."
Finally women from East Dorset are living longer than nearly all others in England, according to the research by Experian. The area has the second highest female life expectancy in England, 85, and the third highest for men, 81.
Dorset County Council said its "cost-effective" re-ablement programme helped older people remain living at home.
There's an interactive map which shows the data for every council here.
And you can watch the BBC South Today debate from the Discovery Centre in Winchester at 10:35 on BBC 1.
Welcome to the hustings! I'm Peter Henley, the BBC's political reporter in the south of England. From parish councils in Sussex, to European politics in Oxford, this is the blog for you. 
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