Cool.

Sadly life isn't fair, if it was people wouldn't have to live in Hull.

I owned a house back in 2001 before i came to London worth 60k, i had a job that paid 18k a year.
In 2002 i transferred to London with the same job and earned, in the same job 19.5k, i'd sold my house and made a 12k profit on when i'd bought it in 1999. I couldn't get a mortgage down here even with a 12k deposit because the cheapest i could find was way too expensive given my earnings. I rented a poxy room with a bed a wardrobe and sink in, with a shower in the corner (all one room) and a communal kitchen and toilet. I had to leave and find a better job before my savings pool ran out.
In summary even though i had more money going in my bank account every month i was so much worse off until i found a decent job. You can't compare London with anywhere else unless you have lived here or at least tried to. You need an extra allowance of at least 4k to see any benefit of the same job.

I'll add my job in London pays roughly 19k more here than it does up north for exactly the same job. And my sister who works in coop up north has more disposable income than i do even though my top line is way over hers.

What is it about living in the London area that is so much more expensive - yes we know about housing, but is the council tax higher, gas/electric, cost of transport, food ?

Certainly the public transport within the M25 seems from the outside to be far better than anything that any other provincial city has so that for instance I could dispose of my car and save a couple of grand a year (which would probably then get spent on fares, but at least there wouldn't be any unexpected clutch and gearbox replacements - grrr), so what else is so much more expensive ?

Trains. Nothing else though. The housing is enough.

Agreed. I'd much rather live where I am now, lower wages or not.

The housing is a massive one but the rest seems to be discreet things like shopping seems to come in at about £8 more a week for he same things, fuel ever so slightly more per litre, alcohol slightly dearer. To be honest you don't notice it at first. But back to housing it's a killer, i need to earn to pay all my bills and outgoings and break even almost 2k a month. Public transport is fantastic in London, but London is vast and going from or side to another can really eat in to your time, i live in North London and had to travel to West !ondon by bus a few years ago, it was just shy of 3 hours travelling in peak times.

Alcohol in pubs is probably at least 25% more expensive in London (unless you drink in a Wetherspoons) so if you are a heavy drinker that'll eat into your budget. Taxis are incredibly expensive.

Transport (tubes & buses) in London is cheaper than in the North in my experience as long as you have an Oyster card.

But this just isn't about London. Its about the whole of the South of England. And where exactly does the North stop and the South begin? Is it written down anywhere????

Also how would they impliment it? Would the northerners get a pay cut and the southerners stay the same or vice versa??

Like all ConDem polices so far, ill thought out and will cause deep unrest in certain parts of the country.