Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of failing to deliver on any levelling up promises made to the North East.
After saying during a speech in Gateshead on Monday that Britian was “stuck” and calling for a general election to be held, the Labour leader said that “levelling up has not happened”. But, when asked what a Starmer government would do to fix the regional inequalities holding back the North East, he failed to make any specific policy pledges.
Sir Keir, making his third visit to the North East this year, used his speech at the Sage Gateshead to accuse the Conservative leadership candidates of “fantasy economics” and making more than £200bn of unfunded spending commitments over the weekend.
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Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the future of the levelling up agenda after Mr Johnson was forced to resign last week, the opposition leader said: “Great promises were made by Boris Johnson and none of them have been delivered. That is why the whole country is absolutely fed up with him.
“Levelling up has not happened. But it is no good the Tory candidates who want to be leader of the Tory Party coming along now and pretending they’ve been on the moon for the last three years or 12 years or that none of this has anything to do with them.
“They have imposed 15 tax rises on people in the middle of a cost of living crisis. We have got low wages and high prices. This is really making it hard for families to make ends meet and that is no way to level up.
“To level up you need to have a positive case for changing the economy and making sure that, wherever you live , you get the chance for that next generation of jobs, the skills, the high-paid jobs that are needed to take our country forward. That is why I have said consistently that we need a change of government, not just a change at the top of the Tory Party.”
However, when asked what specific action Labour would take to bring jobs, investment, and decision-making powers to the North East, Sir Keir did not make any detailed policy commitments. He replied that Labour would “invest across the North East to make sure that the next generation of jobs are secured here in the North East” and would look into changing school curriculums to give people “the skills they need for whatever the jobs are of the future”.
During his speech, the Labour leader also reaffirmed a commitment to end private schools’ exemption from VAT, a policy first announced last September. He was also forced to defend allegations about his own personality, declaring: “The only thing that’s boring is opposition.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has written to all of his party’s leadership hopefuls to warn against the North becoming "lost in the political wilderness after a change in leadership”. Mr Houchen called on the potential prime ministers to sign a levelling up pledge, including commitments to keep the Ministry for the Department for Levelling Up with a Cabinet-level Secretary of State,a full construction of Northern Powerhouse Rail, and a “furthering and deepening” of English devolution.
He said: "In 2019 voters across the North put their faith in Boris Johnson and the Conservatives because he promised to invest and level up their towns; providing significant funding for places like Redcar, Dewsbury, Blackpool and Bury. Generations of families in these towns had never considered voting for us before the 2019 general election and we cannot ignore these voters.
"Despite the pandemic progress has been made and no candidate can backslide on the 2019 commitment, red wall voters cannot be ignored. There must be unwavering support for this critical policy, otherwise red wall and left behind areas will clearly and loudly make their feelings known at the ballot box in 2024."
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