Maybe Sunak was right – we should change how we invest in poor rural areas

Deputy director, Adam Hawksbee, discusses our report The Social Mobility Penalty. He writes:

“At the height of last summer’s Tory leadership election, Rishi Sunak seemed to slip up. In a leaked clip from a Tunbridge Wells garden party, the now Prime Minister described how he changed local government funding to divert investment away from “deprived urban areas”. Many were quick to criticise, but behind these poorly-worded comments is an important point. The government’s approach to investment focuses too much on poverty and not enough on opportunity. It was clumsy, but Sunak was right to call this out.”

You can read the full op-ed here.