Covid leaves Boris Johnson with an expensive 'levelling down' problem

The prime minister's promise to level up the UK north will be four times more difficult, warns thinktank

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The economic impact of Covid will leave Boris Johnson's government with a costly double challenge" to level-up the north and Midlands while protecting the affluent towns and cities in southern England suffering most job losses, according to a report.

Warning that the prime minister's election promise to rebalance Britain's lopsided economy had been made four times harder by the pandemic, the Centre for Cities said a dual approach to the post-Covid recovery was required.