Most people in Britain who live outside London do not believe the capital contributes very much to their local area and many consider Londoners arrogant and insular, according to a survey.
The results show the need for radical ideas to spread London’s prosperity, according to the Centre for London, the thinktank that commissioned the YouGov poll.
When asked to choose the word that best describes Londoners, “arrogant” was the most popular choice for respondents in the north of England, cited by 38%. Other favoured adjectives included “diverse” (35%), “insular” (22%) and “rich” (15%).
Across all regions the most common word used to describe London itself was “expensive” (47%), followed by “crowded”, “diverse” and “chaotic”.
A majority of people living outside of London (56%) said they had pride in London as the capital city of the UK, while just over a quarter (28%) say they were not proud. Expressions of pride drop significantly in Scotland and Wales (44% in Wales, and 39% in Scotland), but even in the north the majority of people still said they were proud of London (51% proud compared to 31% not proud).
More than three-quarters of people (77%) polled by YouGov felt that London contributed a lot or a fair amount to the UK as a whole but 68% felt their local area had not been a beneficiary of the capital’s success.
A similar proportion (78%) of Scots said London contributed not very much or nothing to their local economy – with 74% of Welsh people and 75% of people from northern England saying the same.
Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and director of the Mile End Institute, which co-commissioned the poll, said: “Most people think London delivers for the UK’s economy – they just don’t think it delivers for them.”
Despite scepticism about London’s local economic impact, moving institutions out of the capital to rebalance the economy did not attract widespread support among the 1,883 adults polled online earlier this month.
When presented with a list of 10 institutions that could be moved out of London to make the UK a fairer place – covering the media, royalty, government, galleries – the top choice for non-Londoners was none (40%). Of those who did select an institution to move, the most popular option was government departments, but it was selected by just 19% of people. Parliament was second, chosen by 14%.
Jack Brown, senior researcher at the Centre for London, said: “Brits might be proud of London, but too many people feel excluded from the city. With public support for the decentralisation agenda dwindling, we need radical ideas to ensure London is spreading prosperity and rebuilding relations with the rest of the country.”
