People in Mansfield and Ashfield more than £10,000 worse off due to UK’s poor economic growth

The Centre for Cities think tank found the average person in the UK missed out on £10,200 in disposable income since 2010 when compared with predictions based on 1998-2010 economic trends.

Experts said the whole country, “including places that were doing relatively well before, have been levelled down because of the lack of growth”.

The analysis shows people in the wider Mansfield area – which also includes Ashfield – have been left with £13,490 less in disposable income. This was significantly more than the the East Midlands average of £6,840.

Disposable income is the money a person is left with after paying bills, taxes and covering for the cost of living.

The think tank used primary urban areas in its analysis, which is a measure of the built-up area of a city, rather than individual local authorities. These are used to provide a consistent measure to compare concentrations of economic activity across the UK.

Andrew Carter, chief executive of the Centre for Cities, said: “Both the two main political parties have pledged to grow the economy and the general election debate will have growth at its heart.

“The challenge for the next Government is to go beyond the rhetoric and to do what’s needed to make this rhetoric a reality.”

The analysis revealed 4.6 million new jobs were created across the country between 2010 and 2022 – considerably more than the 2.5 million between 1998 and 2010.

However, productivity slowed during the same period. It increased by an annual average of 0.6 per cent in the period 2010-2021, while this was 1.5 per cent in pre-2010.

Mr Carter said the next Government must recognise “the British economy is an urban economy”.

He added: “Cities account for nine per cent of the land and over 60 per cent of the economy, as well as 72 per cent of high skilled jobs. Their slowdown is at the heart of why the national economy is struggling.”

In Nottingham, there was a 5.2 per cent growth in jobs, but the average productivity growth rate remained roughly the same.

Dr George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: “Poor wage growth over the last decade or so is a damning indictment of a stagnant economy with no direction.

“Instead of spending the past 14 years investing in good green jobs of the future, we have bounced from one plan to another with 11 different economic strategies, nine business secretaries and seven chancellors.

“We need a serious and consistent strategy to return to a high growth and high productivity economy.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to levelling-up every corner of the UK, investing billions to support community regeneration projects, connecting 25.7 million premises with gigabit broadband, and over 50 per cent of England is now covered by a devolution deal.

“We have halved the number of people on low pay with increases in the national living wage, and thanks to an above-inflation increase to tax allowances, we have also saved the average earner over £1,000 a year since 2010.”