Tory plans to ‘level up’ the north are laughably inadequate | Polly Toynbee

There's no sign of the huge sums of money that would be needed to redress stark regional inequalities

Boris Johnson's mighty pledge to narrow the gap between the richest and poorest regions in the UK is the policy with everything - except the monumental sums to make it happen. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research reports today that the amount suggested so far gets nowhere near: it is probably generous in thinking the process could be anywhere near done in a decade. Every government talks of doing it, but Johnson's capture of so many northern seats gives him a mighty new incentive to "level up", as the Tories now call it.

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