Amid all the squabbling about the distribution of ‘levelling up’ funds today, let’s remember the context.
Britain has the worst regional inequality in Europe, with some of the starkest divides between its richest and poorest areas of any large country in the West. Inner-west London, the richest region, has a per capita GDP of nearly £190,000 – about ten times that of the poorest regions.
The UK also has one of the most centralised systems of local government. The average French commune has less than 2,000 people. In Spain, the equivalent figure is 5,700. In Germany, it’s 7,300, Canada, 10,300, Sweden, 36,000. In England, it’s 204,000.
