Economic reality exposes the government’s ‘levelling up’ myth

Regions worst hit by the Covid-19 outbreak will be hoping the government will turn its attention to levelling up, writes Phil Thornton. The economic forecasts point another way

Boris Johnson in Aberdeen this week, during his two-day visit to Scotland (AFP/Getty)

When Boris Johnson ventured out of London to pay a two-day trip to Scotland, all eyes were on the prime minister for evidence of concrete plans to support the economic “levelling up” agenda that contributed to his landslide victory.

Inevitably what they received was a joke, and one in incredibly poor taste that credited the late Margaret Thatcher’s closures of coal mines for accelerating Britain’s journey towards a net zero carbon economy.

With an election now three years away – but possibly as soon as 12 months’ time – businesses, regional policymakers and consumers were hoping for something more than the empty “skeleton plan” speech that Johnson gave on a visit to Coventry despite acknowledging 11 years of Tory rule had left many areas poorer than in the former East Germany.