The Guardian - UK (2022-05-02)

A

mid the scandal, farce and

disarray enveloping Boris Johnson’s

government, one sudden and

glaring absence seems to have

been rather overlooked. Levelling

up was endlessly talked about

between 2019 and early 2022. It

was hailed as a daring Tory stride

into Labour territory, honoured with a re named

ministry commanded by Michael Gove, and somewhat

unconvincingly explained in the 330-page white

paper  that was fi nally published in February.

Back then, Johnson insisted that levelling up

remained his “ defi ning mission ”. Just three months

on, ministers barely use the term. It received only the

most glancing mention at the tail end of Rishi Sunak’s

spring statement, and was absent from the pre-Easter

“ government update” that Johnson gave the House of

Commons about a fortnight ago , assuring MPs of his

regrets about Partygate and his determination to get

on with the job, whatever that is. Though the idea is

not quite dead, it seems to have lost so much urgency

and substance that it is quickly withering away.

Much of the explanation seems to centre on Sunak

and the Treasury, and a battle with Gove that was

settled in the chancellor’s favour. There is also talk

in Westminster of other ministers and MPs from the

newly empowered Tory right successfully pushing

away an agenda that embodied the kind of economic

interventionism they are always dead against. For all

the mockery thrown at Gove and his new department,

some of his ideas and analyses are sound enough,

but without money and political support, that does

not count for very much at all. Worse still, a prime

minister who was never really interested in detail and

consistency is now mired in panic and distraction:

small wonder that his government’s supposed big

crusade has shrivelled into a mere afterthought.

Developments that highlight that story are now

piling up. From the start, there have been clear signs

that even small levelling -up measures have not really

been aimed at the places that need them: earlier this

year, researchers at the University of West London

found that 61% of England’s most deprived areas

have not been allocated any money from the £4.8bn

levelling -up fund. Two weeks ago, it was revealed that

the government scheme designed to replace targeted

funding from the EU will leave the regions

of England almost £80m a year worse

off. The proposed high -speed train line

Trinidad’s prize-winning women authors are rewriting history Editorials, page 2

I was an oversharer – until I saw the joys of privacy Moya Lothian-McLean, page 3

How long Covid has stopped me in my tracks Rose George, page 4

The Guardian

ILLUSTRATION:

MATT KENYON

Monday 2 May 2022



John

Harris

The levelling-

up crusade lies

withered and

abandoned

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