Change in the UK's regions

Some rural areas are growing, and others are losing people.

Growth: South Cambridgeshire. Villages around Cambridge are growing fast, as people move there for jobs in the city's high-tech and research industries. New settlements, such as Cambourne and Northstowe, have been built. But house prices are high, and roads are congested.

Decline: the Outer Hebrides. These islands off north-west Scotland lost about 5.5% of their people between 2011 and 2022, the largest fall of any Scottish council area. Young people leave for education and jobs, so the population is ageing, and schools and services struggle to stay open.

Better transport helps the economy by moving people and goods faster:

• Roads: widening motorways and main roads, such as the A14 near Cambridge.
• Rail: the Elizabeth line across London opened in 2022. HS2, a high-speed line from London to Birmingham, is being built; its northern sections were cancelled in 2023.
• Ports: new and bigger ports, such as London Gateway on the Thames, handle huge container ships.
• Airports: in 2025, the government backed a third runway at Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport, aiming to open it by 2035.

But big schemes are expensive, take years and can harm the environment and nearby communities.

The north–south divide describes the economic and social differences between the south-east of England and the north (and parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

• Pay: in April 2024, median full-time weekly pay was £853 in London and £661 in the North East (ONS).
• Health: in 2020 to 2022, none of the ten local areas with the highest life expectancy were in the north of England, Wales or Northern Ireland (ONS).
• Jobs and investment have tended to concentrate in London and the South East, while many northern areas lost industries.
• House prices are much higher in the south.

Strategies to reduce the divide include:

• the Northern Powerhouse, from 2014, to boost investment, transport and science in northern cities;
• Levelling Up: a government plan from 2022, with 12 "missions" to reduce regional differences;
• freeports, such as Teesside and the Liverpool City Region, with lower taxes to attract businesses;
• devolution: giving more power and money to elected mayors, such as in Greater Manchester;
• transport: better rail links between northern cities.

Judgement: critics say the plans have had too little money for the size of the gap, which remains wide.