The further you live from London, the less likely you are to trust politicians, according to the results of a new survey.
The survey, published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), found 23% of those living in the capital trust politicians ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’. However this fell to just 14% of the North of England and 15% in the Midlands.
In Wales, only 13% of the population trusted those of Westminster, with 14% in Scotland having faith in national politicians.
However in many regions such as the North, the Midlands, Scotland or East of England, trust in locally elected politicians more than doubled.
Rob Whiteman, CIPFA’s CEO, said: ‘As trust ebbs away from Whitehall, politicians in Westminster urgently need to make sure that they are empowering and equipping local leaders with the both the means and the powers to ensure that devolution works for local communities.
‘Westminster cannot just devolve the risk of spending reductions without also devolving the responsibility for raising revenue to meet local demand.’
