CULTURE Secretary Sajid Javid has defended London grabbing by far the largest chunk of arts spending – arguing it was a “cultural engine that helps all the UK”.

Last autumn, The Northern Echo revealed that people in County Durham have spent £34m on Lottery tickets since 1995 – but just £11.9m has been returned to the county in funding for arts projects.

In stark contrast, four London boroughs boast ‘surpluses’ topping £100m – Westminster (£393.7m), Lambeth (£171.8m), Camden (£143.2m) and Islington (£122.2m).

But Mr Javid insisted the Arts Council was “making progress” in reducing that imbalance and said: “It’s not as straightforward as people sometimes present it”

And he added: “If someone says ‘I want to allocate more funds to Yorkshire’, the next question is ‘Where are you going to get it from’?