‘Levelling Up’ was ‘hollow slogan’, says minister in new Pride in Place pitch

Boris Johnson’s Levelling Up pledge has been described as a fig leaf as ministers discussed the new Pride in Place regeneration initiative (Gareth Fuller/PA) - (PA Wire)

Boris Johnson’s flagship “Levelling Up” pledge was “a hollow slogan”, a communities minister has warned, amid fears Labour’s neighbourhoods investment plan is a “fig leaf” to mask Rachel Reeves’s budget decisions.

Miatta Fahnbulleh and Conservative shadow minister David Simmonds traded blows as they discussed the Government’s up-to-£5 billion 10-year Pride in Place programme.