Tackling regional inequalities would create a more prosperous country as a whole - Bill Carmichael

This scenario is not dissimilar to the UK as a whole, where one region - London and the South East - is doing exceptionally well in terms of school performance, and the rest of the country, including Yorkshire, is lagging behind.

But as new research published this week makes clear, the response of the UK government is to do precisely the opposite of what a loving and concerned parent would do, directing money and resources to the better performing region at the expense of everywhere else.

The Child of the North report, prepared by a group of academics from northern universities, demonstrates that schools in the north are losing out on hundreds of pounds of funding per pupil compared to those in London.

For example schools in London received an average of £6,610 per pupil compared to £6,225 in the North East, £5,956 in the North West and just £5,938 in Yorkshire. Scaled up across all schools in the country this represents a massive difference.

The researchers say this disparity has existed for at least a decade and the inequalities worsened during the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Children in the most affluent schools received a bigger real-terms increase in funding (8 per cent) than the most deprived ones (5 per cent) between 2017 and 2022.

The results of these funding differences are stark. Pupils in London achieve on average a third of a grade higher in exams than those in the north.

Absences from school are higher in the north than in London, and the academics say that poor educational attainment has a knock on effect in terms of worse physical and mental health, unemployment, crime and the need for long-term social care.

The good news is that there is strong evidence that improvements can be made if resources are made available. The report points to innovative work taking place in Bradford which has created a database that links education and health care records allowing academics to identify critical issues that may be impacting on children’s learning.

For example, the research in Bradford identified 2,500 children who needed spectacles, but who had not been prescribed them. It almost goes without saying that if you can’t see the blackboard properly or read the textbook, you are unlikely to do well at school.

The researchers make a number of recommendations, including addressing the disparity of funding between north and south, and a radical idea to use nurseries and schools as “hubs” for delivering health services, especially within disadvantaged communities.

The report was prepared for something called the Child of the North All-Party Parliamentary Group, so I hope MPs will take note of its findings and act accordingly.

But of course, education is just one area that demonstrates the yawning gap between north and south. In terms of transport London commuters were treated to the new £19bn Elizabeth Line, while their poor cousins in the north were told the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds would be axed, and the improvement to transpennine services - the so-called Northern Powerhouse Rail - downgraded, on the grounds of cost.

Whether you look at household income, longevity, health outcomes, educational attainment, the north comes off worse compared to the south, and according to many academics the regional disparities in the UK are more marked than many other comparable countries.

If it were possible to close this gap, it would not only improve the lives of millions of people, it would also make the UK a more prosperous country as a whole.

And it can be done if the will is there. Take for example Germany after the collapse of the GDR and reunification in 1990. Thanks to decades of communist rule, the east of the country was impoverished compared to the richer, more successful, capitalist west.

To address this problem the German government launched a massive programme of investment in the east, spending an average of more than £60bn a year specifically designed to reduce the regional divides.