In July 2019, just four days after taking office, Boris Johnson took to a podium at the Science and Industry Museum in the heart of Manchester to make a series of bold promises. As had been the case during a bombastic election campaign - which won over some of the region’s key 'red wall' constituencies - the pledges came thick and fast.
Affordable housing. Public services to support families and help the most vulnerable. Tackling crime. Better connectivity, including high speed rail between northern cities. A boost for culture. True devolution.
Then, and since, Johnson’s speeches have often been characterised by those two magical words - Levelling Up.
READ MORE: Defiant Boris Johnson finally announces resignation as Prime Minister as he addresses the nation
And yet, less than three years later, big questions remain around whether Boris Johnson’s government’s ever really put its money where his mouth was to address the blatant inequalities that exist between cities like Manchester and cities like London. Of the three dozen ‘red wall’ districts that had previously voted for Labour but helped Boris to his 2019 win, 86pc have fallen further behind London and the South East of England.
There are those who insist Mr Johnson did make headway when it came to 'levelling up'. James Daly, MP for Bury North, who resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary on Wednesday having 'lost confidence' in the Prime Minister's leadership, told the Manchester Evening News he had ‘invested tens of millions upon tens of millions of pounds in levelling up’, adding: "In all boroughs of Greater Manchester, he invested record sums in schools and hospitals."
Boris Johnson’s leadership has also coincided with turbulent times. The pandemic has thrown up unprecedented challenges for healthcare, the economy and created barriers in countless other areas of governance and policy. But the UK suffered amid a saga of confusing lockdowns, a deplorable attitude to care homes and, it later emerged, a flagrant disregard for the rules within Number 10.
Critics say the covid crisis also exposed an ingrained system of centralised decision-making which arguably hindered the progress which could have been made had leaders on a local level been given more control. It’s a far cry from Boris’ 2019 promise to give cities ‘power, responsibility and accountability’.
Even as his ship went down, Boris Johnson remained buoyant about his legacy, speaking to ‘getting Brexit done’, the speedy vaccine rollout, and leading the west against Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. And amid a raft of resignations which decimated his Levelling Up Department, he reflected positively on his flagship policy, describing ‘a vast programme in infrastructure and skills’.
That is how the outgoing PM views his tenure.
Here’s a look at Boris Johnson’s legacy from Greater Manchester’s viewpoint...
Devolution of Power
A key part of the PM's message in his 2019 speech was giving greater powers to council leaders and communities, offering powers to mayors like those already available to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
Since then real progress on devolving powers and reversing the 'Whitehall knows best' culture has been frustratingly slow. But there were signs of progress in February's Levelling Up White Paper, which invited Mr Burnham to start talks on a 'trailblazer' devolution deal potentially giving him a host of new powers.
There were a couple of major flash points between the Greater Manchester mayor and Downing Street during Mr Johnson's tenure. The first - during the height of the pandemic in October 2020 - saw the region moved into tier three restrictions despite no agreement being reached on a financial package to support the region.
And this year, the PM was among those criticising the region's Clean Air Zone proposal to charge polluting vehicles across Greater Manchester, using his platform in the Commons to call it a 'thoughtless' plan that would have 'damaged business'.
Cash pots like the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund and the £3.6bn Towns Fund have doled out central government money for projects to improve life in some Greater Manchester communities.
But on one major scheme - the post-Brexit Shared Prosperity Fund which replaces the money previously available from the European Union - analysis by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership suggests Greater Manchester lost out to the tune of more than £50m.
Housing
On Wednesday, Michael Gove, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, was sacked by Boris. It followed the exodus of 45 MPs over the previous 24 hours.
It’s unlikely Johnson could have foreseen this in 2019 as he stood before Stephenson’s Rocket and bemoaned the ‘divide between those who can afford their homes and those who cannot’. That day, he promised to ‘review everything’ - planning regulations, stamp duty, housing zones and the ‘efficacy of existing government initiatives’. He promised safer streets, more home ownership and ‘great public services’.
So what has he delivered in terms of housing in Greater Manchester?
Politicians here agree that Michael Gove and his team ‘said the right things’ when it came to housing policy. But delivery, they argue, was lacking. Bev Craig, Manchester council Leader, says they have had a ‘good relationship’ with the department, but says many of the things that were talked about never made it into legislation.
These include a much-needed overhaul of regulation on private renting, as well as true progress on the cladding scandal. In February, the M.E.N. told how, amid the 'stagnation' of social housebuilding, and as people have been evicted out of their private tenancies due to rising rents, Manchester has the highest rate of people in emergency housing accommodation outside the capital, part from Luton. Meanwhile, there were almost 4,000 Mancunian children living in emergency housing.
Andy Burnham made a manifesto promise last year to build 30,000 new social units across the conurbation by 2038, although the delivery plan is yet to be published. Some local leaders have also called previously for local control over council house sell-offs, although it has never grown into a full-blown campaign.
In February, the government told the M.E.N. a £3m homelessness prevention grant for Manchester was promised over the next financial year, as well as its £12bn national affordable housing programme. It also said that 'since 2010, there have also been 12,200 homes built for affordable rent and social rent in Manchester'.
But the department's own data shows only 2,267 new social and affordable rental units were completed in the city between 2010/11 and 2020/21.
There are widespread concerns here of how, following the mass exodus of ministers, these pressing issues will be given the focus they need. Number 10 said on Thursday there have been nearly 26,000 new homes built in the region between April 2019 and March 2021, with 9,100 new builds in the last year - ensuring the region ‘has the housing it needs’.
Transport
“I want to be the Prime Minister who does with Northern Powerhouse Rail what we did for Crossrail in London.” said Boris Johnson in 2019. High on the agenda was a new high speed rail link between Leeds and Manchester.
Two years later, transport secretary Grant Shapps revealed the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), featuring a cut-price Northern Powerhouse Rail which shaved £18bn - and the entire cities of Hull and Bradford - off the original proposal. It was a major downgrade of the hoped-for £36bn high speed line connecting east to west between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford.
Once labelled ‘a priority’ by Boris Johnson, it would have allowed for more hourly trains and shorter journeys on almost every key northern route. Rejected on cost grounds, passengers were instead proffered a new line from Warrington Marsden tacked on to the existing TransPennine line, which is finally being upgraded after years of delay to that programme.
At the same time, the eastern branch of HS2, connecting the East Midlands and Leeds, was cut. This means passengers travelling from Leeds to London will come via Manchester, adding to its already congested tracks.
Another casualty of the Treasury was an underground HS2 station at Manchester Piccadilly. The government has ruled this out, largely on the grounds of the £5bn extra they claim it would cost. The resulting surface turnback hub will mean a ‘concrete jungle’ of viaducts, the blighting of 500,000 sq m of prime development land and, according to council analysis, a loss to the region’s economy of £330m a year up to 2050.
Council leader Bev Craig says there is a positive hidden in the HS2 Crewe-Manchester bill - the fact it exists. “I will say I was pleased the HS2 bill came forward at all. Manchester will make the case and will hope for any forthcoming Prime Minister to listen to Manchester’s proposition around the HS2 we need. But I’m really pulling at straws when I say a positive legacy is a bill we weren’t entirely happy with but that at least it came.”
Meanwhile, it’s now been eight years since Boris’ predecessors promised new platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station - a solution to the Castlefield corridor bottleneck that cripples services across the north and was largely to blame for the 2018 timetable crisis.
One rail engineer told the M.E.N: “I think Boris’ legacy on rail is denying everything that he personally promised - and that previous Prime Ministers had promised.”
In March 2021, Johnson announced a £3bn bus revolution. ‘Bus Back Better’ would bring simple flat fares, turn-up-and-go services on main routes and new services to reconnect communities. Finally, the whole country would benefit from ‘London standards’.
Much has been achieved for Greater Manchester’s bus network. The devolution deal has finally made way for a franchising system which means control over fares, timetables and ticketing can finally be returned to public control.
Last month, Mr Burnham announced a plan for £2 single journey tickets and a £5 day fare. A bid to offset the cost-of-living crisis, he was candid about another motive - shoring up a public transport network struggling for cash.
That’s because the £3bn ‘Bus Back Better’ pot has, since it was announced by Boris in 2021, been cut back. It means Greater Manchester will receive only half the money it requested to cover the ongoing costs of running a better bus network. Meanwhile, emergency covid funding for buses and trams is due to run out in September.
Experts here argue that it is largely a credit to regional leaders that bus franchising is finally on the way, pending an appeal from bus operator Rotala. “I don’t think we can give that positive to Boris even if it did happen under his administration,” said one: “His Government presided over cancelling half of the funding that had been promised. I think successes have happened despite Boris Johnson’s administration.”
Number 10, meanwhile, say the IRP will help more people get to work across the North West, with ‘250pc’ increased capacity between Manchester and Leeds. They said they had invested more than £660m in ‘local growth funding’ for new Metrolink trams, as well as investment in roads in Rochdale, Wigan and the Manchester-Salford Inner Relief Road.
Crime
Johnson promised a new national policing board chaired by a ‘dynamic new home secretary’ which would hold police to account. There would be 20,000 more police officers over the next three years, and they would have greater stop and search powers.
Number 10 say there are now 662 additional police officers keeping our streets safer and a new super courtroom to deliver ‘swift justice’ in Greater Manchester. Leaders here argue that the Government has ‘consistently’ failed to top up policing levels, leaving them below those during austerity.
Health
When he came to power, Boris Johnson promised that funding pledges by the previous Government in June 2018 would finally be delivered to ‘front line services’. This included a promise to build ‘40 new hospitals by 2030’. He also vowed to reduce waiting times for GP appointments - although this was before the onslaught of Covid.
That hospital pledge is now under review by the government’s spending watchdog amid delays surrounding the programme and warnings taxpayers’ money is being wasted. Meanwhile, there are concerns that the planned rebuild of North Manchester General may have stalled.
A Number 10 spokesman said there now 1,564 more doctors and 4,729 more nurses working to 'bust the Covid backlog' in the North West than in 2019, as well as four new Community Diagnostic Centres Referring to plans for Salford Royal, they referenced plans for a new major trauma hospital, currently in construction.
Despite these areas of investment, there's no sign of a definitive policy to tackle the huge gap in life expectancy. A woman in Surrey can expect to live nearly 70 years of healthy life, compared to 58 in Oldham. Although the white paper on levelling up promised to narrow this gap by 2030, there is little in the way of an action plan to make this happen.
Also on Mr Johnson's 2019 agenda was social care which, he said, was 'crippling those with savings'. He added: “Many people who have worked hard all their lives have had to struggle with the financial burden of care in their final years and been forced to sell their homes.”
However, after his rubber stamping of a controversial funding plan that will hit poorer pensioners, he was accused of 'conning' voters. The move will on average leave homeowners who need long-term elderly care in the most deprived areas of the North spending at least 60% of their eligible property value, compared to 20pc in the wealthiest southern areas, on care.
Education and Skills
Johnson pledged to give 'every child the world class education they deserve'. But this year of the 55 education 'cold spots' identified as part of the levelling up agenda, which were to be targeted for investment, seven - Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Tameside - were in Greater Manchester.
The pandemic did huge damage to the educational prospects of children in Greater Manchester, with those in poorer areas suffering worst. In 2021 the education recovery commissioner for England, Sir Kevan Collins, resigned in a row over the lack of 'credible' Covid catch-up funding.
And Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford forced Mr Johnson's administration into one of many U-turns on providing free school meals to children in England during the school holidays.
Meanwhile, the system for training up young people still struggles to provide the skills they need to get jobs in Greater Manchester's growing sectors like digital. As part of his devolution talks Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham wants to take control of the post-16 education system from central government so he can get a grip on the type of courses chosen at Further Education colleges.
The Legacy
Bury Conservative MP James Daly argues that the government has provided ‘incredible sums’ of money for levelling up - but that Greater Manchester’s Labour-run councils have ‘failed to make use of it’. Citing '£200m handed to Bury constituencies, he said there were examples across the conurbation where cash has not been spent to ‘benefit individuals in the boroughs of Greater Manchester’.
Coun Craig says she does agree with the ‘premise’ of levelling up, adding: “I think there were ministers within the department who did show an understanding of what we needed to make the UK economy thrive and what Greater Manchester needed in terms of investment. I’m not sure how much of those genuinely came from the PM.
But she added: “What we’ve had in this country over the last three years is populist rhetoric that has furthered the divide of communities across the UK.” Calling for a 'serious rethink', she said: "That doesn’t give me confidence that any member of the Conservative party standing to replace Boris Johnson will be able to coherently and confidently deliver on those promises.”
Mayor Andy Burnham, meanwhile, has called for Michael Gove, who he described as 'the one minister who was doing his job and doing it properly', to be reinstated. He warned the country was in a 'dangerous place' with a severe cost of living crisis, millions at risk of hunger, poverty and homelessness and no functioning government.
He called for a short leadership election, adding: "Anything else would allow the country to drift into a dangerous Autumn and Winter. Energy bills will go up in October and there are very stark warnings. People’s jobs are at risk, their homes are at risk. And there is a really serious mental health crisis.”
As with all legacies, it’s likely Boris Johnson’s true impact on Greater Manchester, and the country, will emerge in time. Maybe his successors will finally bring full meaning to ‘levelling up’. Perhaps, as Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester, told Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons, the phrase will ‘become toxic and disappear’.
Boris Johnson’s legacy in Greater Manchester may best be summed up by a quote often attributed to his distant cousin Winston Churchill: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Even to the end, Boris Johnson never seemed to lose that.
What Number 10 said:
A Number 10 spokesman said: “Since the Prime Minister first came into office in 2019, this government has been delivering for the people of Greater Manchester. There are now 662 additional police officers keeping our streets safer and a new super courtroom to deliver swift justice in Greater Manchester.
“25,891 new homes were delivered between April 2019 and March 2021, with an additional 9,100 new build completions in the last year alone, ensuring the region has the housing it needs.
“There are now 1,564 more doctors and 4,729 more nurses working to bust the Covid backlog in the North West than in 2019, as well as four new Community Diagnostic Centres and a new major trauma hospital, which is currently in construction.
“The Integrated Rail Plan will help more people to get to work across the North West, with 250% increased capacity between Manchester and Leeds and over £660 million of local growth funding will provide new trams for the Metrolink, investment in key highway links in Rochdale and Wigan and major enhancements to the Manchester-Salford Inner Relief Road.
“This is all part of the government’s Levelling Up mission to unlock growth in the region, with towns from Bury to Bolton, benefitting from the first allocations from our Levelling Up Fund and high streets from Farnworth to Stockport being transformed as part of our £2.35bn investment across 101 Town Deals in the country.”
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