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Hadrian's Wall cuts through the north, but new research suggests there are also economic divides.

Tony Blair .

He said the important divide was actually between rich and poor within the northern regions.

While many people will take issue with the first part of that (most measures show the North-South divide grew during New Labour's time in power), shows clear evidence that he was on the money about wealth divides within areas.

The report by the thinktank suggests there is real inequality within the North.

But its Richer Yet Poorer report also has less welcome news for Mr Blair.

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The report does acknowledge that the North fot got richer between 1997 and 2008. But it also suggests that communities became increasingly polarised.

According to the IPPR, the highest-earning 20% in the North increased their income at twice the rate of the lowest-earning 20%.

And the research also found that people surviving on benefits became increasingly segregated from higher-earners in the North, becoming concentrated more and more in certain neighbourhoods.

Teesside has some of the biggest inequalities between rich and poor in the North.

The study also burrows down further to discover which parts of the North show the greatest evidence of inequality.

And while generally Tyne and Wear was amongst the least unequal communities, the Tees Valley was found to have one of the biggest divides between rich and poor.

It was the most segregated in the three Northern regions (North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber), and scored highly in another measure of the polarisation between rich and poor.

So should we worry about this? Is this the inevitable consequence of economic growth?

Perhaps, but the report also found that there was likely to be less community cohesion in the parts of the North that were most unequal.

And it suggested the number of public sector workers with decent salaries might have helped the North avoid becoming even more divided. Those jobs, of course, will be disappearing in large numbers over the next few years.

And so, the IPPR argues, there are dangers ahead if inequality is allowed to grow.

Divided communities are more likely to be disaffected, if we believe this research.

So it suggests that the new should not just be looking to go for any form of economic growth.

Instead, they should pursue "good growth" that could help narrow rather than widen the gap between rich and poor. The wellbeing of a community should become just as valid a measure as pure economic growth.

They should also ask firms to sign up to a voluntary pay ratio to ensure that the pay of top executives does not get wildly out of kilter with the pay of those on the shop floor.

Some will doubt whether such structures are realistic at a time when communiies are likely to grab at any jobs on offer, regardless of the niceties.

But the IPPR fears short-termism could have long term consequences.

And so, although the report find that the North was less polarised than the South East, the IPPR fears that might not be the case for too much longer.

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