The nation has a less positive view of Londoners than of people from any other region – and while the majority support transferring development from London, only minorities expect it to happen
A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research has found that cuts announced in the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review disadvantage the North East three times more than London, while the spending announced focuses 90% of all transport investment on the capital. As details emerge, a new study by YouGov finds significant animosity towards Londoners.
Twenty-eight percent of the British public have a “less positive view” of people from London than of people from elsewhere, and only 14% have a "more positive view." In contrast 23% have a more positive view of people from the North, while just 16% have a less positive view.
People from the North are most scathing: 42% have a low opinion of Londoners, compared to 41% of those from Scotland, 34% of those from the Midlands and Wales and 18% from the rest of the South.The feeling is not mutual however, as just 28% of Londoners think less of those from the North. This is about the same amount of Londoners as who dislike those from other regions, except the South (only 13%). Additionally, Londoners are the most likely to have a less positive view of people from their own area (9%, compared to 3% in the North and Scotland).
On the issue of moving investment from London to the other regions, while the majority of Britain as a whole (55%) think it “would be good for Britain’s economy”, only a third of Londoners (34%) agree. That compares to 48% of those from the rest of the South, 61% of those from the Midlands and Wales, 68% of Northerners and 62% of Scots.
Most Britons (55%) think this is “unlikely” however: 51% of Londoners think this, as do half those from the rest of the South, 57% of those from the Midlands and Wales and 61% of those from the North and Scotland.
Transferring investments from London to elsewhere has been a key focus of both the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties, with Nick Clegg saying in a speech to Mansion House that “we need to rebalance our economy away from its overreliance on London” and Ed Miliband claiming that a “One Nation Prime Minister” cannot “Divide the country between North and South.”
