The gap in economic performance between London and the rest of the UK is stretching with the vast majority of job creation coming from the UK capital.

New research by the Centre for Cities (CoC) think tank shows that, since 2010, London accounted for 80 per cent of private sector growth and created 10 times more private sector jobs than any other UK city.

The reporting concludes that London “sucks talent from the rest of the country” and it calls for more power to be devolved to other parts of the country.

Edinburgh and Birmingham where next best at job creation, although private sector job numbers also increased significantly in Liverpool.

Paul Swinney, an economist at CoC, said the capital’s performance was good for the UK but that more needed to be done over time to restore a balance.

"The bigger issue is the underperformance of our next largest cities, such as Sheffield and Manchester,” he said.

"They're very much punching below their weight in terms of their contribution to the national economy."