Britain's north-south divide is turning into a chasm as a shuddering recovery and steep cuts to public spending hit the north far more than the south.
Two sets of figures to be published today, covering business failures and house prices, will again show the economic picture in the two halves of the country is starkly different.
Insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor will note a "material increase in problems in the past quarter across the northeast, northwest, Yorkshire, the Midlands, the east of England and Wales compared with decreasing distress in London and the southeast".
Against a British average of 2 per cent, the number of businesses facing significant and critical financial distress in the past quarter fell by 6 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, for London and the southeast. But all other regions in England and Wales rose, with the northeast up 19 per cent.
- INDEPENDENT
