A NEW report suggests four London boroughs have more influence on Government policy than the whole of the North of England.

The research shows a massive regional imbalance in membership of quangos - public bodies like Sport England, the Environment Agency and Royal Mail - which spend nearly 10% of the nation’s wealth.

More than half of quango board members live in London and the South East. Camden, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Islington - with a combined population of well under a million - account for 15% of quango board members.

But only 13% of decision-makers live in the North of England - which has a population of nearly 15 million.

Some 93% of National Portrait Gallery board members live in London. For the British Council the figure is 80% and for Channel 4 it is 75%.

The New Local Government Network (NGLN) released the figures after asking 1,000 quango board members where they lived.

Director Chris Leslie said: “While London and the counties around it are home to more than half of all quango board members, there are vast swathes of England which seem to have no voice at all.”