Only nine per cent of Londoners think Boris Johnson’s flagship levelling up policy will benefit the capital, a new poll has revealed.
The Prime Minister’s plan to spread opportunity more evenly across the country has been cricised by London’s political and business leaders for ignoring London and the South East and focusing too heavily on so-called ‘red wall’ areas in the north and Midlands.
The survey by Deltapoll, commissioned by London Communications Agency, found that 14 per cent of Londoners thought the policy would hurt London while more than three quarters of those asked said it would make little difference.
Jenna Goldberg, board director at LCA, said: “Londoners appear indifferent at best, if not highly suspicious, towards the Government’s levelling up agenda, which is not surprising given that the Government’s efforts seem to be directed anywhere but here.”
A spokesperson for London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The way to level up our whole country is not to level down London. The capital contributes nearly £40bn net to the Treasury each year, and the Government should be supporting London and Londoners so we can play our full part in levelling up the whole country.”
The Levelling Up White Paper, announced early last month, included plans to regenerate 20 towns and cities with Wolverhampton and Sheffield the first to be chosen. It also announced the “largest devolution of power from Whitehall to local leaders across England in modern times” and an ambition to close the gap in healthy life expectancy between different parts of the UK.
Announcing the 12 point programme for tackling regional inequality last month, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove admitted that poorer areas of the capital like Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham “need support”.
But the White Paper largely ignored the capital and the South East with new targets for research and development spending outside London and new money for the arts 100 per cent focused on areas outside London. New investment in housing and education will also predominantly be targeted at the rest of the country.
Mr Gove said at the time: “It’s great that in London we have an amazing global city. It’s great that the South-East and East of England have so many productive companies. But the rest of the UK is not firing as energetically as it should economically. That’s denying people in the North and the Midlands the opportunities they need.”
Coming almost a month before local elections provide a crucial test of Mr Johnson’s popularity, the Deltapoll survey also found that only 12 per cent of Londoners trust the Government to deliver on local priorities. In contrast, the poll found, that 42 per cent trust their local councillors.
