The Government is focusing on the right issues as part of its levelling up agenda but needs to dramatically scale up investment and effort, according to the Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank.

A report by the think-tank said achieving the Government's missions across sectors ranging from schools to transport would boost gross domestic product by £20bn per year by 2030 – but would only narrow the productivity gap between London and the South-East and the rest of the country from 41% to 39%.