Think tank urges residents to abandon the North

Home building restrictions in the south east of England should be scrapped to allow Northerners to flee their failing cities, a think tank has proposed.

Right-leaning Policy Exchange claims regeneration in Northern cities such as Liverpool, Bradford and Sunderland is “not possible”.

It says residents in the former industrial cities should move south to Oxford, London and Cambridge, which should be expanded into “sunrise centres”.

The report recommends the government’s 3m new homes should be built in these areas and restrictions on home-building be removed to reverse Labour’s failed bid to regenerate the North, according to the Daily Mail.

It says: “No one is suggesting that residents should be forced to move, but we do argue that they should be told the reality of the position: regeneration, in the sense of convergence (with London), will not happen, because it is not possible.”