Disparities are unacceptable

‘Levelling up’ is long overdue

IF BORIS Johnson is to truly make good on his repeated promises to “level up” the country, the Prime Minister must ensure that he heeds the advice of Lord Kerslake, who has said the Government has to “go big or go home” when it comes to making the radical changes necessary to tackle unacceptable regional inequalities that continue to pervade this country.

Last year, the former head of the civil service told The Yorkshire Post that years of prioritising the needs of the capital had created more disparity between the UK’s regions than had been the case in Germany three decades ago when the Berlin Wall came down, with some areas of the North experiencing lower productivity levels than in parts of East Germany at the time of unification.

Now experts at the UK2070 Commission into regional inequalities have found the economic gap between different parts of the UK has widened to the point where London’s productivity growth over the past ten years was nine times higher than the area covered by the whole Northern Powerhouse.

And, speaking ahead of the publication of the commission’s final report, its chair Lord Kerslake has said the UK has become one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.

It is a matter of public ignominy that places in the north of England, and elsewhere, are experiencing such dereliction in comparison with the capital and it is shamefully clear just how far there is to go if Mr Johnson’s vision of squashing regional disparities is to become a long-overdue reality.

There is no simple solution and it will undoubtedly take time. But Lord Kerslake is right. As Britain reshapes itself post-Brexit, re-balancing the regions must be of equal importance to tackling climate change and addressing the social care crisis, if the Government is to make a sustained and meaningful impact.