Levelling down? Pandemic widens economic gap between London and Wales, ONS data shows
The pandemic has widened the economic gap between London and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.
London saw a smaller economic contraction than Wales in quarter one of 2021 and a bigger rebound in the second quarter, stats published on Friday showed.
Model-based estimates of regional GVA growth show that Wales economy shrunk by 1.4% in quarter one before rebounding 4.3% in the second quarter.
London meanwhile shrunk 1.3% in the first quarter and rebounded 4.6% in the second.
The statistics showed that London’s economy has been more insulated from the hit of the pandemic than all other regions in England and Wales, according to analysis in the Financial Times.
“This means that London could have widened the large output gap with the rest of the country, making prime minister Boris Johnson’s levelling up agenda to tackle regional disparities within the UK even more challenging,” they said.
The data suggested that the large presence of financial and business services, with most people able to continue to work from home, in the capital region has helped to insulate it from the economic hit of Covid-19 restrictions, they added.
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When will the people living in those poor valleys communities realise that Whitehall cares not. You will never reach your potential if you put your future in Boris Johnson’s clammy hands. He’s lying to you. Don’t be the butt of his joke. Sadly these are the very areas & communities that voted for Brexit, who will not, and I’ll say it again, will not, benefit from any leveling-up funding from Whitehall. In fact as stated in this article, will become poorer as Boris Johnson will focus any structural funding that previously came from EU and administered by the Welsh Government… Read more »
Inequality will always be with us if we remain part of the Union, it’s as simple as that. We can be more sucessful and prosperous as an independent nation, don’t believe the Westminster rhetoric we have the resources and the capabilities – we don’t need England.