Stronger Political Leadership Needed To Hal Growing North South Divide

3.08.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 30th Jun 2004

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for London, commenting on the Sheffield University study based on the 2001 Census, said: "Today's reports of the growing north-south divide confirm two of the fundamental failures of our economic and social policy. The story of England is more and more clearly one of two tales of two cities. The economic gap between to north and south is growing wider while at the same time the economic gap within London and our other cities is becoming wider as well."

"During the recent London mayoral campaign, I argued against Mr Livingstone that London should seek to reverse the drift to the south east, and not lie back and accept it. Today's figures show that I was right and he was wrong."

"Our Labour government and London's Labour mayor need to take urgent action to make sure that our regional policy and London's economic development start bridging the economic divide, not widening it."

"It remains a scandal that boroughs like Hackney and Tower Hamlets are at the bottom of the national prosperity league table, when they are literally next door to the City of London, the fount of so much wealth and prosperity."

"Social cohesion, social inclusion and social justice begin at home. Political leaders must be much less complacent in the decade ahead."