England, from very early in its history, was a highly centralised state. When compared, for example, to the US or Germany it remains so today. That centralisation of power and wealth incubated a structural imbalance from which we have never escaped. The series of unions that have punctuated our history, and that ultimately created the United Kingdom, meant that not just England but all of the nations of these islands became to some extent caught in the gravitational pull of London.
It might surprise some viewers to find that this relationship, between the four nations that make up the United Kingdom and one city, as well as that between those nations themselves, is repeatedly and necessarily explored in Union, my new BBC Two history series uncovering the formation of what we now call Great Britain. The government’s recent ‘levelling up’ rhetoric is nothing new – London’s capacity to draw capital and talent away from other regions has long been recognised and resented.
