Levelling-up will include societal facets of prosperity
The Legatum Institute has published the UK Prosperity Index report to give a comprehensive assessment of institutional, economic, and social well-being over the country’s 379 local authorities.
The Index, which is used to track the government’s ‘levelling-up agenda’ and can help leaders identify what's going well and what is failing in every area of the UK, highlights the considerable variation in prosperity between and within regions.
It implies that the most prosperous parts of the UK are the South East, South West, and East of England, and, equally, probably the most prosperous local authorities are concentrated within the South East. These are Wokingham, Waverley, Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, and Woking.
Conversely, minimal prosperous regions are Greater Manchester, West Midlands (Metropolitan), and Yorkshire and also the Humber, as the minimal prosperous local authorities are distributed across the north of England (Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Oldham) and Scotland (Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire).
Additionally, the Index finds the UK’s natural environment has improved, with reductions in emissions as well as reduced exposure to air pollution, a rise in the number of tress being planted, and a larger proportion of waste being recycled. Moreover, the united kingdom has continued to improve its infrastructure, especially transport and communications, with average internet download speeds rising nine-fold from 8 Mbps to 72 Mbps over the last decade.
However, the Index also reveals the country’s prosperity is currently being undermined by a deterioration in aspects that lie outside of the traditional focus on GDP, infrastructure, and transport. Included in this are the security and security of local neighborhoods, people’s physical and mental health, conditions for local enterprise, key facets of social capital, and, to a lesser extent, the potency of local governance.
It implies that the nation’s security and safety has deteriorated during the last decade, including in 13 out of 15 regions and 75 % of local authorities. Additionally, thalth has deteriorated across all regions of the united kingdom over the last decade, and the country’s health systems were simply not ‘pandemic ready’.
The Legatum Institute also warns that there is a marked deterioration in the quality of local conditions for businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors since 2011 and that key aspects of social capital are deteriorating.
Matthew Goodwin, director of the Legatum Institute’s Centre for UK Prosperity, said: “This Index is easily the most ambitious and comprehensive assessment of prosperity across the country to date. With detailed data on all boroughs and council areas across the four nations of the UK, it's a transformational tool that will help policy makers and influencers target their interventions better around the journey towards greater prosperity. The Index will be updated annually, allowing citizens, businesses, local authorities, regions, and national government to track their progress over time and hold decision-makers to account.
“The holistic and rigorous approach we have taken means us to identify problems that have previously been missed within the discussion concerning how to level-up the nation. Genuine prosperity is about far more than building a strong economy or giving people bridges and trains. The Index shows that we have to invest in areas for example security and safety, health, enterprise conditions, and family and community life as to determine all citizens, neighbourhoods, and communities reach their full potential.
“This is why, in the end offer the focus on levelling-up regions that have historically been left behind, we believe the government can be bolder. We need to do not only level-up left out areas towards the status-quo. You should be much more ambitious and try to reach entirely new heights by allowing the problems that will put all regions and communities in to the fast lane toward greater and long-lasting prosperity.”
