SINCE Theresa May became Britain's prime minister, she has spoken about the changes that are needed not only to adapt to Brexit, but to deal with the problems to which the referendum outcome drew attention, including the gap in incomes and prosperity between London and less well-off parts of the country. That will be a tall order.

News stories about the British economy tend to concentrate on the big picture of national policies, total employment, growth rates and such like, rather than what is happening at local levels, which is significant in its own right and crucial to what eventually happens to the national economy.

The shrinking of industries such as iron and steel, textiles, car manufacturing and engineering over decades, coupled with the growth of the financial sector, has exacerbated the division between London and much of the rest of Britain and will make economic rebalancing difficult to achieve. The service sector, in which financial services loom large, accounts for 78 per cent of Britain's gross domestic product (GDP), while industry contributes 14 per cent.