I live outside of London (I did previously live there for 30 years or so), in Lincoln about a 100 miles or so away to the north. It's OK. Got two universities and all sorts of other stuff. Certainly not "poor".

The median income in the UK is 10-20% below comparable EU countries.

I'm other side of Nottingham and have to say that things aren't that bad either.

I made my peace with not earning London salaries but being able to comfortably live in a nice area and pay off my mortgage early a long time ago.

My parents weren't of the University generation, so I'm ~better off than they were at the same point in our lives. On the other hand, we're worse off than my in-laws would have been at the same time, because of housing. But housing is a fixable problem. The government just needs to legislate to allow the building of more of it. Even in London, the real answer, whether politicians want to say it or not, is the densification of suburbs - allow redevelopment of suburban areas into higher density developments, and prices will come down.

I live in Cheshire. Definitely not poor. I used to live in Warwickshire. Not poor either.