Levelling Up - Will Anyone Be Fooled by This Silly Dumbed-down Propaganda?

Feb 12, 2022 • The government's plans for 'Levelling Up' Global Britain are literally beyond belief. Referring to the Medicis in Renaissance Florence and a new Fourth Industrial Revolution the plans promise higher pay, better productivity, greater investment in R & D, improved public transport, better schools and skills training, life expectancy being increased by five years by 2035, greater 'Pride in Place' and reduced homicide and other crime.

All of this to be achieved by 2030 with little or no extra money. All of the above could and should have been provided by the government over the past eleven years during which time they have been in power.

This mindless drivel and crude propaganda is an insult to the intelligence of any reasonable person.

In the meantime, Liam Fox, former Trade Minister under Theresa May has launched a new 'Global Britain Commission'. Dr Fox explains that all Global Britain needs to do in order to practically double exports is to double productivity to match that of Germany. He doesn't say how this can be done.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, having reviewed Brexit progress so far, has concluded that there have been no noticeable benefits but considerable disadvantages in the form of red tape and other barriers to trade.

‘Levelling Up’ Has Been Tried Before – So Where Did We Go Wrong?

THE GUARDIAN: Michael Gove’s strategy faces myriad obstacles, as I found to my cost when I tried to tackle regional inequalities

It is now more than 50 years since I first wrestled with the restructuring of local government. After the Conservatives won the 1970 general election, I was sidekick to Peter Walker, secretary of state for the newly created Department of the Environment, and our attempts to change things faced entrenched resistance.

It would be understandable, therefore, if I were to say that I know where the bodies are buried. Michael Gove’s new white paper on “levelling up” makes it clear that, far from being buried, the bodies are alive and very much kicking.

In the white paper, Gove has proposed cautious, evolutionary moves towards greater devolution, achieved by agreement. I cannot criticise him for this. Time and again I faced the same pressures, and was able to persuade colleagues to accept only partial and gradual shifts in the status quo.

The objections came from all directions. The Treasury wants to maintain its tenacious grip on expenditure. The Whitehall barons fight to preserve their functional powers. Local councillors resist the abolition of their jobs, and members of parliament are deeply suspicious of change that creates local figures more powerful than them and deprives them of the foot soldiers they need to hold their seats. » | Michael Heseltine * | Thursday, February 3, 2022

* Lord Heseltine is a former Conservative deputy prime minister and environment secretary

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