North-south gap as great as ever

A left-leaning think tank is today urging ministers to "get real" and do more to close the gap in prosperity between Yorkshire and the affluent South East.

Annual average income per head is 12,089 in Sheffield and 11,428 in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham - compared to 22,441 in West London, 17,785 in Surrey and 14,720 in Hampshire.

A report by the Institute of Public Policy Research discovered that output per head in Yorkshire has fallen since 1997, but increased in London over the same eight year period.

Sue Stirling, director of IPPR North, said: "The Government needs to get real on the north-south divide.

"At the moment, it is in denial. The Government has not explicitly targeted the gap between rich and poor, nor the gap between north and south."

Five years ago, Gordon Brown pledged to reduce the gap in the average growth rates between two groups of regions - the North, Midlands and South West on one hand and London, the South East and the East of England on the other.

The target has long been seen as the key test of whether Labour can bring living standards in its Northern heartland within touch of those in the booming South.

But last year, in a dramatic change of direction, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said the gap between rich and poor within regions - rather than between the North and the South - was the crucial issue.

This has prompted speculation that the Government will ditch its north-south target in the autumn when it announces its new spending plans.

Today's report urges ministers to draw up a new target to reduce the differences in output per head between regions.

It wants Yorkshire and the Humber to be set a specific target for achieving above average growth in output over a set period.