Public spending in the north is now lower than the rest of England and has grown less since 2019, despite the government’s much talked about Levelling Up agenda.
The northern branch of think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, analysed public spending data across the UK since Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ‘level up’ the country three years ago.
While public spending did increase in every region of England, results show that the north now receives less per person in public spending than the rest of the country.
Total public spending in the North was around £16,223 per person in 2021, a 17% increase from 2019, but this is still lower than the England wide average of £16,309 per person.
IPPR North discovered London had seen the biggest increase in public spending per person, with the highest rates in the country at £19,231 per person, an increase of 25% from 2019.
Marcus Johns, a research fellow at IPPR North said: ‘On public spending, the money simply didn’t follow the levelling up rhetoric. Although an increase in public spending on 2019 was welcome, and absolutely essential, spending is lower, and grew slower in the North, than in other parts of the country. At the same time, the country became more centralised and inequalities widened. This is because power is not distributed fairly in this country.
‘Regions like the North deserve nothing less than to be afforded the tools they need to level up for themselves – it’s a sensible way of governing, and very normal in less unequal countries. But here, that hasn’t yet happened at anywhere near the level needed.’
The spending gap between the North and the capital has now doubled over this period, growing from a difference of £1513 per person to £3,008.
Yorkshire and Humber was found to have the lowest public spending per head, at £15,540, while the North East saw the lowest increase, with just a 16% increase in spending.
When calculations removed spending on Covid support schemes and health, the gap between the North and London grew by 80% between 2019 and 2021 from £1,081 per person to £1,937.
Ryan Swift, a research fellow at IPPR North said: ‘Our analysis suggests that levelling up was, in many ways, business as usual. But that has to change.
‘The next Prime Minister will enter Downing Street as a result of votes lent to their party, by many in the North and the Midlands, in 2019. The government has not yet delivered for people in these communities, so the next Prime Minister will have to go much further to unlock northern prosperity.
‘If candidates hope to serve for longer than their recent predecessors, they should listen to the North, and make unlocking the region’s significant potential their personal priority.’
Photo by Jonny Gios
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