Disposable income in 11 towns and cities has risen twice as fast as rest of UK

"A report from Centre for Cities, a thinktank, showed that between 2013 and 2023, disposable income for residents of these top performing towns and cities rose by an average of 5.2%, compared with an increase of 2.4% for urban areas in the UK overall. The report said that if all 63 of the UK's largest towns and cities had experienced the same rate of growth as the top 11 performers over this period, people would have pocketed an extra 3,200 on average in disposable income."

"It found that the top-performing towns and cities in its report all focused on building a strong local business base and higher-skilled jobs, with a significant number of productive firms in tradeable industries, such as software, marketing and finance, that can sell to markets outside the local area. Centre for Cities argued that central and local government were often too focused on piecemeal actions to improve the cost of living, such as capping bus fares or providing money for energy bills,"

"rather than focusing on policies aimed at improving economic growth, which it said led to stronger incomes for everyone. map By focusing on tinkering with the symptoms, the government runs the risk of losing sight of the cause, the report said. The problem underpinning cost of living pressures, stagnant incomes, and persistent deprivation is the lack of economic growth. Andrew Carter, the chief executive of the thinktank, said: If you look at these top performers, what they"

Between 2013 and 2023 disposable income in eleven UK towns, including Warrington, Barnsley and Wakefield, rose by an average of 5.2%, versus 2.4% across urban areas. If all 63 largest towns had matched that growth, households would have had roughly £3,200 more disposable income on average. Top-performing places built strong local business bases and higher-skilled jobs, hosting productive firms in tradeable sectors such as software, marketing and finance that sell beyond the local area. Barnsley used its M1 corridor to develop as a logistics hub by opening industrial land around motorway junctions. Short-term cost-of-living measures often take priority over policies to boost long-term economic growth, and lack of growth underpins stagnant incomes and persistent deprivation.

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