8 in 10 say the government doesn’t care much about their local area or people like them

• Most people in the North of England and the devolved nations think the Westminster government spends less on their area than other places
• 6 in 10 think it unlikely the government’s policies to reduce regional inequalities will have a positive impact over the next 20 years
• Public priorities for their local area are to reduce crime/ASB, improve mental health/wellbeing and better wages/job opportunities

New research from Ipsos on Levelling Up, finds 80% of people in the UK think the government doesn’t care about places like their local area or people like them. 

The latest results from the Ipsos Levelling Up Index shows that despite the levelling up commitments from the government, few expect it to have a positive impact. Now, less than 1 in 10 think the government will make a positive difference in their local area (8%) while 61% say it will make no difference and a quarter expect a negative impact (26%). Looking further ahead, people are only marginally more hopeful. Almost 3 in 10 (29%) believe it is very or fairly likely that the current government’s policies will have a positive impact reducing regional inequalities within the next 20 years, however still 63% believe it is unlikely.  Despite all the changes in government over the last year, these figures are no better than they were in May 2022 under Boris Johnson, and have got marginally worse (with a 4 ppt increase in those who doubt the government will reduce regional inequalities over the long-term).  

Awareness of the current government’s flagship ‘levelling up’ strategy also remains unchanged a year after the Levelling Up White Paper was published. Twenty-four per cent say they know a great deal/fair amount, almost the same proportion as February last year (23%). Similarly, the proportion who say they know nothing/haven’t heard of it has barely moved 33% to 34% in a year.

At the UK level, 3 in 10 (28%) say the Westminster government spends about the same on their area compared to other local areas while almost half (48%) believe it spends less (only 5% think they get more). Those in devolved nations and the North of England are most likely to perceive imbalance in government spending. 62% in both Wales and Northern Ireland believe the government spends more money elsewhere while 55% in Scotland say the same. Within England, 3 in 4 in the North-East (75%), 64% in the North-West and 59% in Yorkshire and the Humber believe the national government spends less money on their areas compared to others. 

The public were asked to consider which of the government’s levelling up objectives should be a priority. Reducing the level of crime and anti-social behaviour (44%), improving people’s mental health and wellbeing (39%) and increasing wages (39%) are considered the main priorities for improvement in their local area, followed by improving job opportunities (37%) and better public transport (33%). 
In the start of 2022, Ipsos started tracking public perceptions against each of the 12 missions within the Levelling Up White Paper. Our latest data shows that one year on the scores for all the 12 missions have fallen, particularly so for: 

• Mission 2: R&D Investment, with an Index score of -44 (down 11 points compared to May 2022)
• Mission 7: Life expectancy, with an Index score of +32 (down 10 points), and
• Mission 9: Pride in place, with an Index score of +31 (down 9 points).

The Index also shows clear regional and geographic differences across many of the missions – for example, attitudes towards investment are still worse across much of the North of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The latest Ipsos Levelling Up Index showing detail across each of the 12 missions will be published in the coming weeks. 

The Index shows there is a mandate for local decision making, both in England and for the rest of the UK. In England, 61% would support giving more control to local authorities while 58% of those in the rest of the UK would also be in favour. 

Half of those in England (49%) would support having a directly elected mayor in their regions, with more control over decision such as public spending, local transport and public services like policing.  In the rest of the UK, 41% would be in favour. 
Trinh Tu, Managing Director in Public Affairs, at Ipsos, said:

Our latest Ipsos Levelling Up Index shows that the government has got a long way to go to reassure the public that they are serious about reducing inequalities across the country before the next general election. Awareness of the government’s Levelling Up strategy remains limited yet the public’s perceptions of inequalities in government spending across the UK is high.
We see from our latest research that it is the North of England, the devolved nations and traditional industrial legacy/ex-mining areas where people feel most strongly that they receive less than their fair share of public spending, and our full report soon to be published shows a fall in the Index scores for each of the missions across most of the country – meaning regional inequalities in public perceptions are still plain to see.

Technical note:

Ipsos interviewed online a representative UK sample of 6189 adults aged 16+ between 2-8 February 2023. This data has been collected by the Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel, an online random probability panel which provides gold standard insights into the UK population, by providing bigger sample sizes via the most rigorous research methods. Data are weighted by age, gender, region, Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, education, ethnicity and number of adults in the household in order to reflect the profile of the UK population. All polls are subject to a range of potential sources of error.  Details of the exact questions used to create the scores for each mission are available in the report.