Brexit: Areas that backed leaving EU starved of Government support, report reveals

Study suggests low funding over many years may have helped make regions more likely to vote Leave

'People need a fairer economic deal that offers more jobs'

(Getty)

Parts of the UK that backed Brexit most strongly are also those that have been most starved of government funding, a report has revealed.

The research, seen by The Independent, suggests low spending in less prosperous areas “drove political disaffection and amenability to Brexit”.

It also indicates that prosperous areas or those enjoying a relatively high level of state support – like London, the South East and Scotland – were most likely to give the EU their backing in the referendum.

The Fabian Society, behind the research, has warned that politicians must form better ways of allocating spending if they are to prevent voters becoming more disillusioned.

General Secretary Andrew Harrop said: “Looking across the nations and regions of the UK, the areas that voted most strongly in favour of Brexit are those which get the worst deal on public spending, once their prosperity and population are taken into account.

“Correlation is not causation, but we can speculate that many years of unreasonably low expenditure might help to explain why communities and regions came to be, and to feel, left behind and under pressure, which in turn drove political disaffection and amenability to Brexit.”

The Fabians compared levels of support for Brexit to levels of public funding, adjusted for prosperity, in each nation of the UK and region of England.

The idea was to explore if Brexit backing might be linked to how “fair” each area’s funding might be considered. given its prosperity.

London, Scotland and Northern Ireland were shown to have extracted best value from Government coffers in terms of public spending per person adjusted for regional prosperity – the areas that most fervently backed the EU in the referendum.

Meanwhile, the study showed the East Midlands received the worst deal on public spending and was the second most pro-leave region.

Other areas with poor funding deals and high support for Brexit included the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East.

The report challenges claims that the Brexit vote was just about disillusionment with the institutions of the European Union or that it was solely about immigration, the issue which featured most prominently in the referendum campaign.

It added: “The evidence from the Brexit vote suggests that the price of our failure to allocate resources fairly may be high, in terms of political psychology as well as material demands.”

Pat McFadden MP of the Open Britain campaign said it was “clear” many people voted Leave not just because they were angry with Brussels, but also because they felt ignored by UK governments too.”

He said: “People need a fairer economic deal that offers more jobs, a fair share of public spending, more private sector investment and better chances in life.

“Many of the areas that voted Leave have suffered big cuts to public services in recent years. They will want to know when they will see the £350m a week more for the NHS that was promised [by the Leave campaign], and when the other pledges made by Leave ministers will be fulfilled.

“And it’s important we don’t damage job prospects in these areas by giving up on membership of the world’s biggest Single Market.”