Hull named among the worst affected places in the north for decent jobs, wages and opportunities

A leading think tank is warning the chance to live a good life is fading away for too many people in the north of England.

According to the State Of The North 2020 annual report from the Institute of Public Policy North (IPPR North) - decent jobs, wages and opportunities are becoming increasingly unattainable across the region.

The authors say the UK entered a global pandemic with deep, growing divides between and within regions caused by decades of centralisation and 10 years of austerity.

And the Covid-19 pandemic makes the challenge of reducing regional inequalities even greater and more urgent than before, the report adds.

The North is now experiencing levels of unemployment not seen for a quarter of a century, especially concentrated in northern cities and coastal towns, with Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Hull, currently under Tier 3 restrictions, among the worst affected.

The report also highlights:

• There are fewer job opportunities in the North compared to the rest of England

• Median wages in the North are lower than England as a whole with five million northern workers paid less than the real living wage

• Gender and ethnicity pay gaps are wider in the North than elsewhere in the UK

• 40% of women who work in the North are paid less than the real living wage

• Rates of child poverty are higher, with healthy life expectancy lower than across England

Last month Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £4 billion "Levelling Up Fund'' and reforms in the way the Treasury assesses the value for money of big infrastructure spending projects to remove a long-standing bias against funding in northern England and other regions.