Read: The Northern Echo says it's time to level up the North-East

Regional paper The Northern Echo has launched a new levelling up campaign ahead of next week’s elections. The Newsquest title launched the campaign last week and had this to say:

The political stars are aligned for a once-in-a-generation event. We have a government elected on the promise of “levelling up”, of raising up the forgotten-about areas of the north, and with crucial elections next week, the region is centre stage in the political spotlight.

This is as welcome as it is overdue.

The phrase “levelling up” has great resonance with people who are fiercely proud of this brilliant area but who feel it has been overlooked, or taken for granted, by successive governments and institutions from distant London to even further away Brussels.

That’s why they were prepared to loan Boris Johnson their vote in December 2019, to see if there really could be a change for the better.

Now comes the time to make sure that the promised change really begins – and that is what The Northern Echo’s new levelling up campaign is all about.

Read more about the launch in The Northern Echo.

Last week the Levelling Up Awards 2021 were held in Darlington - watch the full event.