IT is difficult to equate Jack Straw's view that there is no North South divide with the evidence available.

The MP for Blackburn denied there was a divide despite a Government report which said Blackburn with Darwen was among the most deprived areas in the country.

Audley, Shadsworth and Higher Croft were among the 100 most deprived wards in England. The list also included Daneshouse in Burnley, Whitefield in Pendle and Central in Hyndburn.

True, there is a sharp contrast in East Lancashire with Ribble Valley, Rossendale and Chorley among the 200 local authorities which did not figure in the deprivation index.

Mr Straw argued that this contrast showed the North South divide was too simplistic and Hyndburn MP Greg Pope backed him by saying there were areas of Accrington that are deeply deprived, but equally there are areas of Tower Hamlets, London that are just as bad. It would be easy to single out individual areas in the North and South that are equally deprived.

But large areas of the North suffer from deprivation whereas in the South it can be counted in isolated pockets.

The fact remains that life in the North is generally much harder than life in the South.

Indicators of deprivation include low income, unemployment and poor health -- and there can be no argument that we have more of all three than they have in the South.

Prime MInister Tony Blair's argument that the divide is a myth smacks of attempting to sweep the problem under the carpet and colleagues like Jack Straw and Greg Pope, who represent constituencies up here, would do well to remember that large numbers of their supporters believe there certainly is a divide.

Try telling people who live in Shadsworth or Daneshouse that there is no difference between their quality of life and that of people living in the South.

Jack Straw and Greg Pope say talk of a North South divide is too simplistic.

There are many in East Lancashire who would counter that by saying the MPs' views are too simplistic and that they are ignoring reality.