UK ‘going backwards’ in efforts to level up

Wide margin: Shoppers pass a Primark clothing store on Oxford Street in London. A quarterly index shows that the prosperity gap between the capital and the poorest parts of the country was widening. — Bloomberg

LONDON: The United Kingdom has “gone backwards” in its effort to level up the regions and spread prosperity outside of London, according to Legal and General (L&G) chief executive officer Nigel Wilson.

A series of shocks, sky-high inflation, and a lack of investment have left vast swathes of the United Kingdom suffering through a historic fall in living standards, Wilson said.