Nearly one in five people dream of leaving Yorkshire for a better life, new report says

Some 17 per cent of those questioned in Yorkshire and the Humber by Legal & General said they’re considering a move despite Government commitments to level up the regions.

The Rebuilding Britain Index shows a national trend towards a desire to move out of larger urban hubs, with some 35 per cent of Londoners questioned also saying they’re considering moving out of the capital.

It comes as the insurance and investment firm revealed the latest scores from its index, which assesses areas of the UK on levelling up across health and social care, education, housing, jobs and economic prosperity, environment, energy, transport and digital.

The scores show significant disparities across Yorkshire and the Humber, particularly on education.

North-East Lincolnshire received a score of 54, and Wakefield received a score of 57, falling well below the average regional score of 68.

Harrogate outperformed the rest of the region on all measures, with the exception of housing, scoring an average of 70 points out of 100 across all measures.

But Kirklees, Calderdale and Scarborough scored more poorly on the index, with each netting 60 points.

Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal and General, said: “Our research demonstrates that people are increasingly reconsidering where and how they want to live and how they derive their sense of place.

“Arguably, the pandemic has made todays workforce more flexible than ever before, and in doing so people have the opportunity to relocate whilst maintaining their job.

“This potential migration of highly paid and highly skilled workers from places like London to the wider UK regions may bode well by helping to more evenly distribute wealth and skills to places like Yorkshire & Humber.

“However, we must ensure that we level the playing field across the region more widely on issues of economic prosperity, health and education to ensure that existing disparities within the region are not widened further.”

Michael Gove launched the long awaited White Paper setting out government plans for levelling up last week.