Inequality in university applications is a problem higher education can't solve on its own

Amid all the good news today, (Clearing Day) the striking contrast for me is that 50%+ of young people in poorer London boroughs are now applying to university compared to less than 20% of young people in parts of the north and north-west and some of our long disadvantaged coastal towns.

The same parts of the country with low incomes, high dependency on benefits, weak levels of economic activity, poorer health outcomes and shorter life expectancy. Is it any wonder that collectively, these issues create low levels of aspiration?

Long before Norman Tebbit advised us to 'get on your bike,' my father moved our family out of a then depressed Middlesbrough to join what the newspapers in those days called 'the drift south'. His income went up dramatically and I was the first in my family to go to university. Followed by my three brothers, all of us stayed in London and the South.

Boris Johnson (he of Eton and Balliol) introduced us to levelling up. It was attractive as a concept but never translated into a practical action plan. The issues are complex and interrelated and need decades of persistent policy application across multiple fronts.

Which is why I think that on its own, widening participation initiatives from HE providers have failed and will continue to fail in these deprived parts of the country. The root causes of low aspiration need to be addressed in the round, over at least a decade or two. A tough call for most politicians.

So here's hoping that when our new Labour government has found its feet, it will decide that the country's huge regional inequalities need tackling, not only on the grounds of social justice but also to unleash the untapped potential for growth.

Just don't call it levelling up.