London also needs ‘levelling up’

‘The further a person is from one of our great capitals—whether it is London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast – the tougher life can be,’ Michael Gove told the House of Commons on Wednesday.

It is his mission, as the first holder of the ludicrous title of secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, to fix this situation.

But is it true? It may come as some surprise to the people of Barking and Dagenham in east London, where 48 per cent of children live in households considered to be experiencing poverty, that they are among the most privileged in the UK.

It may also be surprising to the occupants of, for example, the Shankill Road in Belfast that their postcode offers them privileges not available to the market towns of northern England.

Nonetheless, this is the way the country’s social problems are currently framed: they simply weigh more if they occur in former Labour voting towns which have suffered the impacts of post-industrialisation.