Why voters in North turned to the Tories
Two in 3 gloomy about their opportunities in life
LESS than a third of voters in the North East believe they have a chance of getting on in life without moving away, a study published today found.
The social mobility survey asked nearly 5,000 adults across the country whether they thought ‘opportunities to progress’ in their region were good or poor.
Just 31 per cent of respondents in the North East thought there were good opportunities.
This is compared to 78 per cent in London and 74 per cent in the South East generally.
The report, which highlights the huge confidence gulf between the regions and capital, led to calls for Boris Johnson to commit to investing in the communities that lent him their vote last month following the collapse of Labour’s Red Wall.
Dame Martina Milburn, chairman of the Social Mobility Commission which produced the report, said: ‘This poll is a call to action for this Government to do more to help social mobility. Politicians at national and local level must listen to it.
‘Regions which have been marginalised for decades should get the investment they need to provide opportunities for young people, so they don’t have to move out to move up.’
The commission’s report, based on a survey by You Gov, warned there was ‘deep unease in many regions about whether people have the same access to good education, jobs and housing as those living in the South’.
The report said: ‘This “Northern Wall” played out dramatically in the general election and has already become a focus of
Mr Johnson’s Government.’ The gap between the North and South ‘highlights the need to make greater efforts to improve social mobility in schools, further education, training and job security in many regions outside the South East’, the report added.
Confidence in other parts of the country was also much lower than in the South East.
In the East Midlands 59 per cent of respondents said they thought they had good opportunities to progress, dropping to 54 per cent in both the West Midlands and Scotland.
In Wales just 37 per cent thought they had good opportunities, while in the South West, the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber less than half said the same.
The report also shed light on attitudes toward generational divides. Across the country as a whole, nearly two-thirds of people said they had had access to a better education than their parents – but only 29 per cent thought they had better job security. Just 45 per cent, thought they were better off than their parents.
Londoners felt the hardest done by compared to their parents, chiefly because of the shortage and sky-high price of housing.
Only a quarter of Londoners thought their homes were better than those of their parents, and 43 per cent thought they were worse off for housing than the previous generation.
Some 44 per cent thought their success and status is determined by their parents’ social background – a higher share than the 35 per cent who said they felt everyone had a chance to get on.
The report added: ‘The majority of people of all ages continue to feel there are fewer opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds compared to better- off peers, including going to a top university and owning their own home.’
‘Call to action for the Government’