Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will Liz Truss kill levelling up?

It’s unlikely to be at the top of her intray

(Getty)

Levelling up is probably not even in the top tier of Liz Truss’s intray for this week, given the pressure to do something big on energy bills, and then to address the multiple other crises including the NHS, the Northern Ireland Protocol and Ukraine. But what she does with her predecessor’s flagship policy is a matter of great anxiety for MPs and activists in Red Wall seats. I spent some time over the weekend with Conservative councillors, MPs and Tory members in Greater Manchester. Unsurprisingly, most of them had supported Truss as be party leader. But most of them were also anxious about the future of levelling up, or whatever the new prime minister decides to call it to make it her own.

Truss will only have 18 months until the next election, which is an impossibly short amount of time to do much levelling up

Truss has paid tribute to the importance of ensuring that all parts of the country benefit from the same opportunities.

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