Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has blasted the government's plan to 'level up' the country, saying it "does nothing" to address the issues faced by northern towns and cities.
The shadow levelling up secretary said the long awaited plan, which ran to more than 300 pages, amounted to little more than a "cobbled together shopping list of recycled policies".
In a fiery House of Commons speech, Ms Nandy said the government had given more cash to "fraudsters" during the pandemic than they have to the North of England.
The White Paper, published this afternoon, sets out a series of wide-ranging national “missions” – from improving public transport to ensuring access to 5G broadband – to be enshrined in law.
A number of pages in the lengthy document were dedicated to the history of the Roman Empire, something which Ms Nandy was quick to seize on.
She said: "After all the delays, all the slogans, all the big promises. Is this it?
"The sum total of ambition for our proud industrial and coastal towns, our villages and our great cities is a history lesson on the rise of the Roman Empire
"A minister scurrying around Whitehall shuffling the deckchairs, cobbling together a shopping list of recycled policies and fiddling the figures.
"For some of us this is personal. We’ve lived these failures every single day. We’ve watched good jobs go, high streets boarded up, young people having to get out to get on.
"The system is completely broken and he’s given us more of the same."
Ms Nandy, commenting on the "12 missions" at the core of the document, pointed to the fact that the Tories had been in office for the last 12 years and observed that many of the things which they were seeking to address had arisen on their watch.
She said: "Only two thirds of children leave primary school with the basic skills to get on. Forgive me if I’m missed something but wasn’t Michael Gove the education secretary for four years?
"What about this? They want to tackle crime but on their watch fewer than one in ten crimes are solved, and nearly all rapes go unprosecuted.
"Anyone would think he hadn’t been in charge of the justice department.
"This is a government in freefall - out of ideas, out of energy."
Ms Nandy added: "They’ve given more to fraudsters than they’ve given to the north.
"For every £13 they’ve taken off us they’re given just £1 back.
"We get a partial refund and they expect us to be grateful.
"It’s not their money, its ours, and we want it back."
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