Hot on the heels of the European election results comes the latest 2018 regional analysis this week of the public finances from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Slightly provocatively, the ONS likes to describe the fiscal imbalance (tax revenue compared to public spending) between England’s nine regions, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in terms of deficit and surplus. So London unsurprisingly, ‘subsidises’ the rest of the UK by producing a surplus of £34.3bn while the largest deficit is in the North West at £20.8bn.

Overall, the UK has had a deficit since 2002 though it is far lower now than it was in 2010; since 2002 London and the South East have generally maintained surpluses.