No new money, no new ideas? Michael Gove unveils “levelling up” white paper

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The ‘levelling up’ white paper is finally unveiled today. This lays the foundations for what is to become the flagship levelling up and regeneration bill. Michael Gove has been put in charge of this government’s central promise: to carry out a decade-long project that will shift power from Whitehall to local leaders, focus investment on ‘left behind’ areas of the country and ultimately narrow disparities of all kinds between regions. The white paper has not had the best start, with not only a backdrop of law-breaking parties in Downing Street (there are further revelations today) but also briefings that everyone “thinks it’s shit” – including Gove. The announcement has been criticised especially for involving no new money: the Levelling Up Secretary admits that he is recycling, “tilting” the funds that had already been made available in the spending review. In fact, on his media round this morning, Gove employed the interesting tactic of not particularly disagreeing when journalists raised such concerns.

Leaving aside the money issue, which government sources have amusingly defended by saying the money will be new for the local leader receiving it, perhaps even more serious is the argument that there are no new ideas. The levelling up white paper will set out 12 national “missions”, from increasing pay, employment and productivity to promising a devolution deal to every part of England that wants one. Labour MP and business committee chair Darren Jones has pointed out that the government’s recently scrapped industrial strategy missions were almost the same – so this part of the new white paper is basically a copy and paste job, with something about “pride in place” added. It is also notable that every single one of the missions starts with the words “by 2030”, which means we can only measure their success once the Tories have had another decade in power.

How does Labour respond, without striking a negative tone that can be ignored as classic opposition griping? The opposition party has put forward its own five-point plan for levelling up, outlined by shadow minister Alex Norris in a new LabourList piece. It gives more attention to jobs, high streets and affordable housing. The Labour leadership is also keen to bring this debate back to the urgent problem of our rising cost of living. After its opposition day motion advocating a new windfall tax on oil and gas producers was ignored by Tory MPs in the vote yesterday, Labour has highlighted that cutting energy bills in the way it suggests would boost local economies in the North by £1.6bn – and warned that failing to address this crisis means people have less money to spend, including on their local high streets. With the new energy price cap set to be announced tomorrow, we expect to hear the details of ministers’ plans to tackle this urgent issue imminently – and we are sure to notice the effects much sooner than 2030.

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