Michael Gove has succeeded in turning ‘levelling up’ into more than a slogan

The white paper is a serious attempt to address the decline in ‘forgotten communities’ that has bedevilled successive governments for the last 40 years, writes Andrew Grice

The levelling up secretary has announced 12 targets, to be enshrined in law (PA)

It’s easy to mock the long-awaited, 400-page white paper on “levelling up”. After all, a history lesson about how the Medici transformed Florence will hardly get them toasting a renaissance for the north in the Dog and Duck in Hartlepool.

Yet the document is a serious attempt to address the decline in “forgotten communities” that has bedevilled successive governments for the last 40 years. Many of the ideas outlined by Michael Gove will, eventually, make a difference and finally turn levelling up into more than an empty slogan.

It’s good that the levelling up secretary has announced 12 targets (or missions), to be enshrined in law, so we can measure the government’s progress with the help of a new watchdog. There is a political risk for any government in setting targets; they can return to bite you. Although some goals are too vague, others such as raising life expectancy and research and development spending outside the southeast are important.