Report

The myth of “left behind”

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities looks at why a city-focused industrial strategy will not increase place-based discontent.

A common argument in the aftermath of the Brexit vote was that people’s political discontent was the result of the widening divide between city and town.

Yet, data shows that constituencies with stronger connections to their neighbouring big cities were less likely to vote for either Brexit in 2016 or Reform UK in the last general election.

The real problem for areas around most big cities is that these cities have not performed strongly enough –they lag many of their G7 counterparts – to generate the level of prosperity that cities of their size should. This is underlined by the outcomes in and around London and Bristol, which have much stronger economies and lower levels of political discontent.