Brexit: Rishi Sunak outlines plans for ‘levelling up agenda’

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The shocking report further suggests the average resident of Madrid can expect to live a decade longer than somebody living in Glasgow or Liverpool, where life expectancy is four years below the Europe-wide average. Meanwhile, the Centre for Cities think-tank, which produced the analysis, has further suggested Boris Johnson’s plan to “level up” the UK will cost close to £2trillion – roughly the same as it took to reunify Germany.

On average, people living in Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham live two years less than those in Europe.

Overall, life expectancy in UK cities is among the lowest in western Europe.

Among women, life expectancy is the 17th-lowest when compared with members of the EU27, and is only higher than Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.

In Glasgow, a woman can expect to live to the age of 80 on average, compared with 88 in Madrid, and 87 on Nantes, Toulouse and Lyon.

Male residents of Glasgow meanwhile can expect to live to 75.22 – 4.68 years below the Europe-wide average.

London fared slightly better, with life expectancy of 80.6 for men and 84.4 for women.

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In Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham and Glasgow, the gross value added per head – which measures the amount generated by economic activity in an area – is less than half that of Brussels, Amsterdam and Munich – with the figures distorted somewhat by the massive wealth generated by the capital.

In London, the GVA per head is roughly £90,000 compared with roughly £60,000 for Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham.

Paul Swinney, policy director of Centre for Cities, said: “We’ve had this North-South divide for at least 85 years now. It’s a huge challenge.

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Mr Swinney suggested in order to realise Mr Johnson’s “levelling-up” vision, funding needed to be similar to the £1.7trillion spent by the German government to reunite the country after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

He explained: “At the moment we’re in the rounds of a couple of small pots of funding and some nice warm words about some places and free ports.

“The East German example gives you a peg to assess how far we are away from that.

“If we’re absolutely miles away – which we are currently – that feels uncomfortable.

“But if there’s something more comprehensive that gets you closer to that, then that’s pretty close to where you need to be.”

Speaking of the Government’s forthcoming White Paper on the subject, a Government spokesman said it would show how “bold new policy interventions will improve livelihoods across the country”.

He added: “We are taking decisive action to level up health inequalities across the country, providing extensive support to protect and improve the public’s health and wellbeing during the pandemic and beyond.”

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