A regional daily has urged the government to “tear down” the wall of economic division after a new report compared the disparity between the North of England and London to that of East and West Germany.

The Manchester Evening News splashed today on an investigation by former head of the civil service Lord Bob Kerslake, which has claimed decades of “unstated” government bias towards the capital, to the detriment of the North of England, will take half a century to reverse.

Lord Kerslake drew parallels with German reunification in the 1990s, when leaders there faced a battle to heal the economic chasm between West and East.

To illustrate its point, the MEN’s front page shows a view from behind an imaginary wall, with London landmarks seen beyond it.

Its headline of “Tear down this wall!” echoes the words spoken in a 1987 speech by then-US president Ronald Reagan in West Berlin.

As well as coverage online, the MEN ran a special two-page report by social affairs editor Jennifer Williams in print.

Editor-in-chief Darren Thwaites told HTFP: “The report made searing comparisons between the regional inequalities facing a reunified Germany at the fall of the Berlin Wall and our own North/South divide. While Germany chose to pour vast waves of investment into infrastructure in the East to bring the country together, the UK over the same period pursued policies that actively widened inequality between North and South.

“Their failure to invest properly in infrastructure and economic support means that 30 years on there’s now a bigger gap between London and the North than between East and West Germany. Given the really evocative reference to the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we echoed Ronald Reagan’s famous Cold War speech, in which he implored the Soviet Union to ‘tear down this wall’ if they wanted to share prosperity.

“Our metaphorical wall is between the North and London. Both Tories and Labour have presided over decades of failed regional policies and it’s no surprise they’ve both seen a backlash from disillusioned voters. The experience of Germany, over more than a generation, has shown that it doesn’t have to be this way. Re-balancing the economy is actually good for both London and the rest of the country.

“Our role, along with all our media colleagues in the North, will be to ensure this remains very high on the political agenda come the next general election.”