It's rich up North

Forget the old clichè about life being 'grim up North'. In fact, the region has eight out of ten of the wealthiest areas in England and Wales, new research shows.

Typical is Tatton in Cheshire, which tops a list of the 50 richest constituencies. London, hit by the high cost of housing, fares badly with only four areas in the list.

Researchers combined average salaries with the cost of living to work out the true value of disposable incomes.

In Tatton, the average salary is £29,303 but that is worth £41,506 in real terms. In traditionally wealthy Kensington and Chelsea, the average wage packet may be the highest in the country at £40,951 - but you need that amount just to live.

It is pushed into third place behind Sheffield Hallam, where an average salary of £29,150 is worth £41,289.

Gordon Rankin, marketing director of Barclays Private Clients which carried out the study, said: 'When the cost of living is factored in, the North moves into pole position.

'Much of this is likely to be related to the disparity in housing costs which take up a much larger proportion of an individual's salary in the South-East.'