Boris Johnson’s Blue Wall rebellion isn’t going away

Boris Johnson must have been hoping that his troubles in the north were over, after his scrap with Andy Burnham was resolved last week and Greater Manchester moved into Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions. It appears though that it’s not only the metro mayors in the north that have the capacity to cause the Prime Minister headaches.

Last night, the newly formed Northern Research Group – a ‘trade union’ for northern Tory MPs founded by the former minister Jake Berry – wrote to the Prime Minister, calling on him to not forget his promises to ‘level up’ the region. 

Over 40 MPs expressed their concern in the letter that:

‘The cost of Covid could be paid for by the downgrading of the levelling-up agenda, and northern constituencies like ours will be left behind.’