Bradford City Council's chief executive has hit back at the think-tank which branded his city a write off.

Tony Reeves, who is also board director of the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA), has accused the Policy Exchange – author of Cities unlimited – of being divorced from reality.

The report suggested regeneration should be halted in Liverpool, Bradford and Sunderland in favour of Oxford, Cambridge and London.

Mr Reeves said: ‘Building one million new homes in Cambridge, Oxford and London respectively, and shipping people from the North to the South as a major shift in regeneration policy should not be taken too seriously.

‘I don't think the members of this body know that Bradford has the highest rate of business start-ups in the Yorkshire region  above the national average.

‘We have the highest forecast employment growth in the north of England, and the fastest-growing population outside London.'

The report provoked a storm of protest on LocalGov.

Craig Winter from South Tyneside MBC called it a ‘disgraceful, ignorant' report on the North-South divide and pointed out its similarities to the comments of the Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP in TV's Yes, Minister when it was suggested senior civil servants should be asked to move to the North.

The Campaign for the Protection for Rural England (CPRE) has also waded in. Kate Gordon, CPRE's senior planner, said: ‘It is difficult to find anything sensible in this report. Mass migration from north to south is the last thing struggling areas need. It would widen, rather than narrow, the gap.'

The Conservative party has chosen to distance itself from these proposals.