Johnson should repay north of England voters with private investment – report

Research argues ministers should create economic big bang' for area that turned Tory in last election

The prime minister should repay voters in the north of England who lent the Conservatives their vote at the last election by unleashing billions of pounds of private investment, according to a report.

It argues that ministers should aim to harness the restless radicalism" from those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and the Conservatives in 2019 by creating an economic big bang", along the lines of the Thatcherite deregulation of the City in the 1980s which reinforced London's position as a global financial centre.