Voters in ‘Red Wall’ areas a third more likely to be murdered as Boris Johnson falls short on vow to level up Britain
BRITS in "red wall" areas were almost third more likely to be murdered last year, a damning report reveals.
Boris Johnson is falling woefully short on his vow to level up Britain according to a study that lays bare the North/South divide.
In the 43 mainly northern and midlands areas that switched from Labour to Conservative in the 2019 General Election, around a third more adults have no qualifications when compared with the rest of the country.
Big private investment firms plugged just £83.20 per head into those regions, compared to a national average of £145.60 last year.
And businesses in other parts of the country were able to borrow at rates 42 per cent higher, and start up rates are almost a fifth lower in the red wall.
A landmark study by Legatum Institute on prosperity in Britain shows just how far Boris Johnson is falling short of his vow to level up the nation so far.
Their UK Prosperity Index 2021 found there are 13.8 per cent more deaths between the ages of 20 and 64 in the "red wall" and 31 per cent more homicides compared with the national average.
The "red wall"; seats swept the Tories to an historic Election win in 2019, but those voters are still amongst the most left behind in Britain.
DOZENS OF CRITERIA ON PROSPERITY
The study compared more than 256 different indicators of prosperity across all 379 local authorities in Britain.
And it found that the Red Wall areas that put Mr Johnson into power remain significantly less well off that the rest of the country.
But 35 of the 43 areas - four fifths - are in the bottom half of the league table.
Voters there are also more likely to have diabetes, be disabled or be obese and rates for alcohol misuse are higher and life expectancy is more than a year lower.
Last night, the PM’s own Tory MPs in the North and Midlands called for action.
Hartlepool came 361th out of 379 on the prosperity rankings - and their MP Jill Mortimer said: “My town voted Conservative for the first time in a generation because of our promise to level up and create better opportunities.
"After two years of a pandemic and lockdown, that task has been made so much harder.
“My constituents don’t want Government handouts - they want targeted solutions that empower them, their families and their communities to earn their way to prosperity.
And Jonathan Gullis MP for Stoke-on-Trent North - which came 356th out of 379 in the Index - added: “The Prime Minister was absolutely right to promise to level up and bring opportunity to the Midlands and the North.
"But now we’ve got to deliver. Levelling up must be about skills and jobs.”
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The study found that the number of adults with no qualifications in the 43 Red Wall seats that went from Labour to Tory in the 2019 election was a third higher than elsewhere.
Baroness Philippa Stroud, CEO of the Legatum Institute, said of Red Wall levelling-up: “The lack of access to business loans and adult qualifications are clearly some of the key places to start.”
