Spending gap between London and North doubles despite Boris Johnson’s ‘levelling up’ pledge

Tory leadership contenders told ‘the money didn’t follow the rhetoric’ – and they must ‘listen to the North’

The gap in public spending between London and the North has doubled since Boris Johnson came to power, despite his pledge to “level up” the country, new figures reveal.

The capital has surged ahead of England’s poorest region in terms of cash handed out by the government – proving that “the money simply didn’t follow the rhetoric”, according to the think tank behind the analysis.

The data also shows that, three years after the prime minister stood outside No 10 and vowed to level up the nation, public spending in the North has now fallen behind the average for England.