A report which ranks the 海角视频’s most prosperous areas has shown the scale of the Government’s ‘levelling up’ challenge after only two areas in the North made it into the top 100.
The highest rankings of 379 areas around the 海角视频 are dominated by London and the South East, while only two areas in the whole of the North of England - both in the North West - make it into the top 100.
By contrast, the North takes six of the bottom 10 of the prosperity table. York was the highest ranked area in Yorkshire and the Humber while North Tyneside was the highest ranked area in the North East at 168.
The rankings have been drawn up by the Legatum Institute, a right-of-centre think thank, which bases its scores on a variety of factors, including the economic and business landscapes of each area, safety and security, health, education and the environment.
The report’s authors say they are aiming to build a wider picture of prosperity than simple measures of GDP economic output. They rank the Wokingham area of Berkshire the most prosperous place in the 海角视频, followed by five other areas in the Home Counties.
Blackpool comes bottom of the prosperity rankings, with Middlesbrough, Oldham, North East Lincolnshire, Doncaster and Manchester all in the bottom 10.
The report says: “As the 海角视频 charts its way out of the Covid-19 pandemic with a world-leading vaccination programme and aims to take advantage of new freedoms post-Brexit, the importance of addressing regional disparities has never been greater. The pandemic has highlighted old inequalities and created new ones.
“The Index shows what is well understood—prosperity is concentrated in the South of England, and it is appropriate for the levelling up agenda to target more deprived areas.
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“However, the Index also shows that deprivation and prosperity take different forms. Investment in infrastructure or even broader economic goals, although necessary, will not be sufficient to achieve a true ‘levelling up’ of the 海角视频.
"Investment in health, education, and poverty reduction will be required, alongside rebuilding trust in institutions, enhancing social cohesion, and addressing family relationships.”
The report has been issued two days after the Queen’s Speech highlighted the Government’s aim of accelerating its ‘levelling up’ agenda.
The poor performance of Northern areas will amplify the need for Ministers to do more to improve people’s lives in ‘Red Wall’ areas where it has made significant electoral gains over the last two years.
Northern areas actually scored well in the report’s assessment of enterprise conditions, with the top three areas in the 海角视频 - South Lakes, County Durham and Gateshead - all being in the North.
But the region scored poorly in areas such as social capital, health and safety and security.
The Government earlier this week promised a “levelling-up White Paper” that it said would set out how it intends to meet the pledges made to voters in former Labour-voting areas.
But Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has criticised the Government on levelling up, saying that “it was this Conservative government who has cut 60 pence from every pound in funding to local councils, forcing them to close Sure Start and children’s centres, cut back on social care, libraries, leisure centres, degrading the very fabric of our local communities.”