The Prime Minister will set out his vision for levelling up the
United Kingdom in a speech in the West Midlands today.
The Prime Minister is expected to say that “we will
have made progress in Levelling Up when we have begun to
raise living standards spread opportunity, improved our public
services and restored people’s sense of pride in their
community”, particularly in places that have felt left
behind for decades.
The Prime Minister will make clear that this agenda will
also help to relieve pressure in the parts of the UK which are
‘over-heating’.
Speaking about the government’s approach, the Prime
Minister will say:
“It is vital to understand the difference between this
project and levelling down.
“We don’t want to decapitate the tall poppies. We don’t
think you can make the poor parts of the country richer by making
the rich parts poorer…”
The Prime Minister will argue that previous governments
focused investment too much in “areas where house prices are
already sky high and where transport is already
congested…”
He will argue that “by turbo charging those areas -
especially in London and the south east – you drive prices even
higher and you force more and more people to move to the same
expensive areas…
…and the result is that their commutes are longer,
their trains are more crowded, they have less time with their
kids. They worry at the same time that the younger generation
won’t be able to get a home and that their leafy suburb or
village will be engulfed by new housing development but without
the infrastructure to go with it.”
The Prime Minister will emphasize that “levelling up is
not a jam-spreading operation. It’s not robbing Peter to pay
Paul. It’s not zero sum, it’s win win.
He will say that the UK’s successful vaccine roll-out will
help fuel a strong economic recovery in the year ahead,
highlighting that: “Levelling up can only be achieved with a
strong and dynamic wealth creating economy. There must be a
catalytic role for government, and government is there to provide
a strategic lead, but that requires consistency – not chopping
and changing.”
The Prime Minister makes this speech ahead of the Levelling
Up White Paper that will be published in the Autumn.
