Levelling up: Experts and MPs question Michael Gove’s plan

It started as a campaign promise – a 2019 manifesto pledge to tackle regional inequalities. And now today we have – on paper for the first time – the details of what “levelling up” actually means for deprived communities across the country.

On the face of it – it’s an ambitious, once in a generation programme, with twelve “big missions” across all the departments of government – and all by 2030.

But critics say those missions aren’t big enough, and that there’s no new money to make them happen.