Read: Levelling up isn’t just about the North – it’s unfair for Boris Johnson to paint London as ‘rich’
Boris Johnson has now been Prime Minister of our country for two years. His promise was to ‘level up’ Britain and it’s certainly been an election winner, but the challenge is now to deliver it. And that means having a plan.
In a speech today he set out the Government’s latest steps which are, of course, welcome. But what is still urgently needed is clarity on how he plans to deliver a Britain where everyone has the same chances to get on in life.
The Government is steadily recognising that levelling up is a national challenge, not just one that exists in the North. London is held up by the Prime Minister as having been overheated through over-investment from politicians for years, yet while the capital is home to some of the wealthiest households in the country, it also has the biggest concentration of deprived households. Twenty eight percent of Londoners live in poverty compared to an average of 22 percent across England. To portray London as uniformly “rich” is to miss the challenges the capital faces.
Equally many people living in parts of Kent or Essex wouldn’t remotely recognise the tag of the “rich” South portrayed today. All parts of the country need their levelling up plan, not just some.
It is a complex challenge. Perhaps it’s why Boris Johnson is still having to explain what he means by ‘levelling up’. But we need not be defeated by that.
Through my work with businesses and universities across the UK, I’ve identified 14 levelling up goals, ranging from education and access to opportunity, to the other aspects of life that either help or hinder reaching your potential. They include health and housing and being on the right side of the digital divide. These businesses and universities are already getting on and delivering levelling up in their communities, because that’s where change really happens. So ‘levelling up’ can have a clear definition that means we now know what needs to be done.
By Rt Hon Justine Greening, former Education Secretary and Chair of Levelling Up Goals