Conservatives have become the party of people on low incomes, following their victories in "red wall" seats in last year's general election.
A new study has found that the party now holds more low-pay seats than Labour. Earnings in seats the Conservatives won in 2019 are on average 5% lower than in Labour-held seats, and houses in Labour seats are worth on average £62,000 more.
It's one of the findings in the first report of a new group called the Levelling Up Taskforce, which is backed by 40 Conservative MPs including Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison and North West Durham MP Richard Holden.
The aim is push the Government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to make good on promises to "level up" the country, increasing wealth and opportunity in areas that have been left behind in the past. The group argues that boosting regional growth is essential to the party’s electoral prospects.
Of the bottom quarter of seats in Great Britain with the lowest earnings, 77 are now held by the Conservatives while 74 are held by Labour.
The report, published by think tank Onward, highlights the way that the gap between London and much of the North and Midlands has grown in recent decades.
In 2004, London's economy was roughly the same size as the economy of the North of England. But now it's 25% larger. To put it another way, London's economy is now the same size as the North plus Edinburgh, Swansea, Belfast, Bristol and Birmingham on top.
People on low incomes in London are around 13% wealthier than people on low incomes in the rest of the country - but regions such as the North East are catching up.
The real wealth gap is at the top of the income scale. The highest incomes in London are 42% more than the highest incomes in other places, and this gap is actually getting worse.
The report warns: "There has been convergence between regions at the bottom end of the earnings distribution, driven by things like the National Living Wage and tax and benefit reforms which have reduced differences between regions by levelling up poorer areas more. But there has been divergence at the top where these factors have limited impact.
"Looking at the gap between earnings for full time workers in London and the North East, the pay gap shrank for the bottom 30% of workers but grew for those higher up."
Young people in London also have more opportunities than those in many other parts of the country, including the North East, partly because the capital has succeeded in helping children from lower-income families win places at university.
The report states: "Overall, more than 60% go to university in places like Sutton, Hammersmith and Fulham, Slough, Kingston upon Thames, Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Barnet, Westminster, Redbridge and Harrow. But less than a third go in Knowsley, Portsmouth, Barnsley, North East Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Salford, Hull,Thurrock, Doncaster, the Isle of Wight and Swindon.
The MPs are calling on the government to produce geographical analysis of all budgets and fiscal events, setting out the different impact that tax and spending changes will have on different areas.
