Andrew Neil savages Boris Johnson's 'levelling up' promises

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Just 14 percent of Britons truly understand what “levelling up” means, according to a new poll. A staggering 31 percent of the respondents to the survey, carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for PoliticsHome, had zero understanding of what it means. Boris Johnson branded levelling up the “greatest project that any government can embark on” in his closing speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. He promised to offer opportunities to areas that have felt left behind, while taking the pressure off parts of the South East at the same time.

The Prime Minister also confirmed a new “levelling-up premium” worth up to £3,000 to send the “best” science and maths teachers to areas that “need them the most”.

However, many have pointed out that the £60 million scheme is just the repackaging of an identical policy launched in 2019 that was axed last year.

Michael Gove was appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last month. 

He set out four objectives for levelling up at the Tory party conference: “We want to strengthen local leadership to drive real change.

“We will raise living standards especially where they are lower.

“We will improve public services especially where they are weaker.

“And we will give people the resources necessary to enhance the pride they feel in the place they live.”

Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about the Government’s plans.

He explained that, in the context of inequality, talk of a north-south divide is “very unhelpful”. 

London has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK, he explained, and inequality is true within parts of the UK as well as between the north and south.

Asked about the correct approach to levelling up, he said: “If what you care about is people’s life chances and their opportunities then you need to do something about inequality and poverty, and we have a Government that is choosing to take £1,000 per year away from virtually every poor family in the country.”

He added: “You cannot possibly be serious about levelling up in terms of giving people, everywhere in the country, the opportunity to succeed, and then cut £1,000 per year from the incomes of the poorest families.”

Professor Portes asked how Mr Johnson’s Government can truly be taken seriously when it is cutting £6 billion in Universal Credit.

He said: “That’s not levelling up, it’s the opposite of levelling up, that’s taking money from the people who can’t afford it and giving it to the ones who can.”

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German government spent £1.7 trillion in rehabilitation funds to level up the former East Germany.

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While not wanting to speculate the amount of money it might cost to level up in the UK, Professor Portes admitted the current £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, announced as part of the 2020 Spending Review, will not be anywhere near enough.

He said: “I think it’s very hard to put numbers on it. I think it’s certainly fair to say that the percentages of money that the Government has so far allocated are likely to be completely inadequate.

“I’m not sure throwing around really huge numbers is really that helpful.”

He called on the Government to reverse the Universal Credit cut, and to rethink the education recovery plan.

Sir Kevan Collins resigned from his post as education recovery commissioner in June after the Government announced a £1.4 billion package.

He had suggested £15 billion was needed to make up for the lost learning, and received less than a tenth of that.

Red Wall Tory MPs, meanwhile, have called for the “connectivity” disparities to be prioritised to help people access jobs.

Research from think tank Onward said people in parts of the Midlands and West Yorkshire can reach just half the amount of jobs by public transport that those in the South can.

It emerged earlier this month in The Independent that the Government will offer a “severely pared-back” version of the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme, and plans for a high-speed rail link through the east Midlands would be shelved.

Sources told the newspaper that almost every major city across the north and Midlands will be left disappointed.

The Prime Minister, during his closing speech at the Tory party conference, promised: “We will do Northern Powerhouse Rail.”

The Integrated Rail Plan, which will rule on a number of things including whether a £500m major new rail hub in Bradford will go ahead, is due to be published imminently.

Professor Portes stressed the importance of a degree of control being given to local authorities if meaningful levelling up is to be achieved.

He said: “Meaningful levelling up requires sustained investment over a period of years, not just in transport but in skills and education. 

“It requires central Government being prepared to give some degree of local control so that localities, whether that’s regions or towns or cities, can develop their own strategies.”

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