UK is the most unequal country in the developed world

The UK is the most unequal large country in the developed world, according to a report published by The UK2070 Commission inquiry.

According to the report, the economic gap between different parts of the country has widened to the point where London’s growth since 2010 is nine times higher than the area covered by Northern Powerhouse.

The authors of the report have called on the government to stand alongside businesses and community organisations to make pledges to tackle inequality.

In order to do this, the researchers have said that the government must triple the shared prosperity fund to £15bn per year and they must also transform connections between cities, within cities and beyond towns and cities.

The researchers are also calling on a ‘network of excellence’ in regional research development to match London, Oxford and Cambridge, and a shift of power and funding away from Westminster and Whitehall in a programme of devolution.

Former civil service head Lord Kerslake, who chaired the inquiry said: ‘Many people in Britain feel left behind by growth elsewhere.

‘We now face a decade of potential disruption – leaving the European Union, confronting the impact of climate change and adjusting to the fourth industrial revolution.

‘Our research shows clearly that these inequalities did not grow up overnight, they reflect an over-centralised system which fails to comprehend the reality of the regional need and comes up with policies which are either under-resourced, too fragmented or too short-lived to make a difference.

Professor Cecilia Wong from the University of Manchester who informed the study said: ‘The challenge of the Commission has been to turn sceptics into supporters to focus on UK’s long-standing regional inequality problem and its impact on people’s livelihoods and wellbeing.’

‘Manchester Urban Institute played a key role in advocating the importance of injecting spatial thinking and analysis into policymaking and holding both national and local government to account.’

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