What does PM’s vow to ‘level up’ really mean?
Boris Johnson will make a speech on Thursday on his plans to “level up and unite the country”, something the prime minister has previously described as “the central purpose of his premiership”.
In the Conservatives’ 2019 general election-winning manifesto, the party said its focus would be “levelling up every part of the UK” and the term has since become a key slogan for Mr Johnson’s government.
The term was a key tenet of the Queen’s Speech, the prime minister now has a ‘levelling up adviser’ and Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a £4.8bn ‘levelling up fund’.
The regeneration of the high street is expected to form a key part of the PM’s speech on Thursday
In the party’s manifesto, the PM said it would involve investing in towns, cities and rural and coastal areas, using apprenticeships to balance out skills, giving areas more control over investment and creating new freeports.
Andy Street, the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands – where the PM will be making his speech on Thursday – has said it should mean “a level playing field for the UK’s regions” in terms of opportunities.
And more recently, the term ‘levelling up’ was heavily referenced in the Hartlepool by-election in May – which saw a Tory MP elected for the first time in the current constituency’s history.
But what does the phrase really mean?
Levelling up is ‘not just getting a shiny new high street’
Conservative MP Simon Fell, one of the many new party representatives elected in the 2019 snap general election, said placing more decision-making locally and investment in education is key to levelling up.
“I think we are seeing good progress on levelling up with towns deals, the Levelling Up Fund, high street bids, all that sort of stuff,” the MP for Barrow and Furness told Sky News.
“But what I am really interested in seeing is more local decision-making, pushing decisions back closer to people, and I am hoping that we will see with that some of what will deliver long-term levelling up.
“I look at my own patch, some of the real challenges we have are around education and health.
“So how we drive changes there, that we are not just getting a shiny new high street – I would happily take a shiny new high street – but actually giving young people the opportunities both in terms of the skills they can pick up and the education they receive, but also the health outcomes which are just lacking at the moment.”
Conservative MP Sir John Redwood says investment in small business and enterprise is key to levelling up
‘Harnessing public and private sectors to create sustained progress’
Conservative MP Sir John Redwood says levelling up to him is investment in “training, education, support for small business and enterprise”.
“To me, the aim is very clear: it is primarily about more people going on worthwhile personal journeys so that we end up with many more people who are in worthwhile and well-paid work where they find more enjoyment and reward from it in every sense,” the MP for Wokingham told Sky News.
Mr Redwood added that the key to effective levelling up is “harnessing public and private sectors” to create “sustained progress for a community”.
“You are not going to get a sustained recovery or a noticeable levelling up if you just put one or two large public sector projects into a place,” he said.
“It has got to be much more comprehensive than that and a lot of the action is going to be private sector led. “
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced eight new freeports in England in March.
‘Rebalancing the economy and bringing high-quality, well-paid jobs to the regions’
Conservative MP and former minister Simon Clarke says levelling up is about “creating jobs and opportunity and restoring pride in place”.
“My priority for the future is very clear – delivering more good jobs, growth and investment for the area I was brought up in,” the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland told Sky News.
Mr Clarke added: “Here on Teesside, our new freeport is already bringing the first high-quality, well-paid jobs to our region with huge investors such as GE Renewables choosing Teesside for their new manufacturing operations.
“The Towns Fund, the Future High Streets Fund and the Levelling Up Fund are all enabling our local authorities to deliver investment and kick-start shovel-ready projects to make the improvements that will unlock future investment in our towns and communities.
“The government is rebalancing the economy to give communities which have felt ignored and let down a greater share of investment and greater control over how these investments are made.”
Giles Wilkes, senior fellow at the Institute for Government, said Boris Johnson sees R&D (research and development) as key to his levelling up promise
‘What the state should be doing is what the levelling up debate is all about’
Giles Wilkes, senior fellow at the Institute for Government and former special adviser to Theresa May, says the levelling up debate for Mr Johnson’s government is about two things – investment and research and development (R&D) spending.
On the latter, he said: “This is the idea that if you try to situate your brainy industries outside of these regions that normally benefit from it, the south east and so on, then you will be able to generate new clusters that will become the Seattles and Bostons of the future.
“All I can say about this is that it is extremely difficult.
“The agglomeration benefits of being around where the existing clever people are is incredibly powerful and there is a long list, perhaps 100 long, on Wikipedia of places that decided to call themselves Silicon something-or-other and failed – because there is only one Silicon Valley.”
The US Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee will hear testimony from former CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam and lawyers at Coinbase and Multicoin Capital.
Politics
Kemi Badenoch says Tories will support Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare cuts – on three conditions
Kemi Badenoch has offered Conservative support, in order to help the government pass its controversial welfare changes.
The Tory leader told Sky News she would be asking for three commitments from Sir Keir Starmer, if he wants to use Conservative votes to pass the reforms to disability benefits, which have triggered an unprecedented rebellion of more than 100 Labour MPs.
Ms Badenoch said: “I’m just making it very clear to Keir Starmer that if he will make commitments at the despatch box to meet our conditions which are to reduce the welfare budget, to get people into work and not to have tax rises, then we can support his bill.
“The bill is a bit of a mess. It needs some work. It looks like it’s been rushed for Rachel [Reeves] to fix other problems that they’ve got. But our welfare budget is far too high, and we really need to bring it down.”
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The prospect of the bill passing on Conservative votes would outrage Labour MPs.
An amendment they have tabled says they cannot support the bill because it would drive disabled people into poverty, and they are concerned about whether people losing benefits would find work.
Around 119 Labour MPs have now signed the amendment, while Sadiq Khan has become the most senior Labour figure to call for a “rethink”. The mayor of London has warned that the proposed cuts would “destroy [the] financial safety net” for “too many disabled Londonders”.
Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall has tried to reassure Labour MPs about the changes. But the rebels are hoping the government will water down their proposals in order to get Labour support.
The prime minister, speaking at a NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday, insisted the government would press ahead.
Keir Starmer told Sky News: “We’ve got to get on and make that reform because the options are: leave the system as it is, trusting people and not helping them, that’s not a Labour option. The Labour option is to reform it and make it fit for the future. So we’re going to press ahead with these reforms.”
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Sir Keir Starmer says he wants to see the ceasefire between Israel and Iran maintained.
A vote is looming next Tuesday with Labour MPs deeply concerned about the changes which will see 370,000 current PIP claimants lose benefit, and affect 3 million people in total.
The rebels hope the government will climb down.
One of them, Neil Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, told Sky News that relying on Conservative votes “is not a good look for any government”.
He added: “If you can’t rely on your own party, I think you’re in a serious place.”
Responding to Ms Badenoch’s offer, a Labour spokesperson said the government was “elected to deliver change” and that it’s “prepared to take on the challenges holding the UK back”.
They added: “We’re fixing the abysmal mess the Tories left behind, and MPs can either vote to keep a broken failed welfare system that writes people off, or they can vote to start fixing it.
“Next week’s bill is a test for the leader of the opposition as to whether her party has learned anything at all by being roundly rejected by Britain.”
Sir Keir Starmer has reaffirmed his desire to push through controversial benefit cuts despite a mounting rebellion among his MPs.
The prime minister said there was a “clear moral case” for the reforms, which aim to slash £5bn a year from the welfare bill by 2030.
PM arrives at NATO summit – follow live
While many Labour MPs initially indicated they backed the bill in principle, support has ebbed away over recent months amid warnings about the impact the cuts could have on the most vulnerable people in society.
Around 119 Labour MPs have now signed a reasoned amendment to oppose the government’s proposals – which, if passed, would effectively kill the legislation.
But speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby from the NATO summit at the Hague, the prime minister said the welfare system needed reform and was “not working for anyone”.
He said the vote planned for Tuesday was not a confidence vote in his leadership but on the need to reform the system.
“I think most colleagues do accept the case for reform,” he said.
“We’ve got to get on and make that reform because the options are: leave the system as it is, trusting people and not helping them, that’s not a Labour option. The Labour option is to reform it and make it fit for the future. So we’re going to press ahead with these reforms.”
Sir Keir Starmer made the comments on his way to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. Pic: AP
Welfare system ‘unsustainable’
Sir Keir spoke to reporters on the way to the summit about the reforms, saying there were around 1,000 people a day signing up for personal independence payment (PIP) – equivalent to the size of the population of Leicester.
“That is not a system that can be left unreformed, not least because it’s unsustainable, and therefore you won’t have a welfare system for those that need it in the future,” he added.
“So those that care about a future welfare system have to answer the question – how do you reform what you’ve got to make sure it’s sustainable for the future?'”
Introduced in March, the government’s welfare bill outlines proposals to make it harder for some disabled people to qualify for PIP while also cutting universal credit, another benefit.
The reasoned amendment calls on the government to delay the proposals pending an assessment of the impact of the PIP cuts.
It also cites concern about the government’s own figures which show 250,000 people could be pushed into poverty as a result of the changes and the lack of a formal consultation with disabled people.
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One Labour rebel told Sky News there was a “broad sense of unease across all levels of the parliamentary party”.
“Almost everyone thinks there needs to be reform and there are a lot of good things in the bill, but elements need more thought and explanation if they are going to proceed,” they said.
“Unless those issues are revised, or much better explained and justified, I don’t think there is enough support for the measures. People are really worried there is a rush to do this and that we might sleepwalk into this as we have done with other issues.”
On Tuesday, Downing Street suggested the vote would still go ahead despite the concerns of some MPs – including influential chairs of parliamentary select committees.
Asked whether the government was confident it could pass the legislation, a Number 10 spokesman told reporters: “We are focused on delivering last week’s bill and engaging, talking to colleagues, as to why this reform is so important.”
Pressed on whether the vote was happening next week, they added: “I would never get ahead of parliamentary business. It’s scheduled for next week. We are committed to reforming welfare.”
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