…but were afraid to ask
Just when I thought I was getting my head around what levelling up might actually, possibly involve, the government implodes. How is anyone to keep track of it all?
Have you been watching the debates?
I started to but it triggered memories of my parents’ divorce. All that shouting, constantly talking over each other, the fundamental disagreement on fiscal policy…
You have my sympathies. Not even the presenter could make it through the last one. But, sadly, it is important.
We need someone to captain the ship.
Exactly. Soaring inflation and spiralling building costs do not happy investors and developers make.
So, who is the best bet then?
Well, that depends. Liz Truss is channelling Margaret Thatcher…
Oh yes, I had noticed the outfits.
No, I mean she is appealing to the base with plans to dish out £30bn in tax cuts and make a bonfire of EU legislation. But Rishi Sunak says that Truss has no idea how the economy works, and that her policies will fuel inflation. He insists the country can trust him to handle the economy, based on his track record as chancellor.
So, record government spending backed by more debt?
Actually, he says he would do the exact opposite. Turns out Sunak is rather annoyed that people see him as a tax-and-spend chancellor. He may apparently be a fiscal conservative at heart, but he’s had some pretty interesting, libertarian ideas. Freeports was one of his. And “people” say he is in favour of business rates reform.
Did he push for it as chancellor, then?
No, he ruled it out. But he does have a plan to tackle inflation.
Which is?
He’s going to declare it a crisis.
We know it’s a bleeding crisis! It’s nearly 10%! EY has said it could hit 15%! What’s he going to do about it?
Well, not cut taxes for a start.
Oh, good grief. Is there any detail in any of this? I need raw fact, not red meat! Where does he stand on levelling up?
Very keen. The regeneration of town centres to make them “exciting and clean” is one of his priorities, and asked if he supported the levelling-up policy, Sunak said that was a “massive, unequivocal ‘Yes!’”.
A little surprising, since he refused to give any money to the agenda as chancellor.
Well, quite. But he has said that he plans to keep the department and its secretary of state.
Well that’s good. Greg Clark seems like a safe pair of hands.
Yes, but some are suggesting Sunak will hand the actual post to his former leadership rival and Gove protégée Kemi Badenoch instead.
And what about Truss?
She says she is “completely committed to levelling up”, and “it’s not just a slogan”.
Oh! Isn’t it? That’s news to me.
Now, now. Truss has said the government has been “slow to deliver” on Boris Johnson’s flagship policy and it has yet to be translated into practical benefits. She will pursue the levelling-up agenda but in “a Conservative way”.
What does that mean?
Apparently it means more freeports.
I thought they were Sunak’s big idea?
Ah, yes. But these are “full-fat freeports”.
Which means what exactly? Less red tape but rather more cholesterol?
Well, Truss has gone full Thatcher on this one, promising to turn as many brownfield sites as possible into modern-day equivalents of the London Docklands Development Corporation.
Very good! Although, didn’t that version of Canary Wharf go bust?
Mere details. She says that brownfield sites and other locations will be transformed into “investment zones”, benefiting from greatly reduced planning restrictions and sizeable tax breaks. She plans to boost numbers with her revised, meritocratic approach, adding: “We can’t carry on allowing Whitehall to pick the winners and losers, like we’ve seen with the current freeport model.”
Now this sounds more promising – what else does she say?
Erm, that’s about it actually.
Well, what about housing policy?
The truth is, we don’t exactly know. In fact, housing associations and the likes of Shelter have said the lack of policy is “deeply alarming”.
Haven’t either of them said anything in the past? There must be a clue there.
Potentially, although both candidates claim to have “been on a journey”, so who knows which previous policy they might perform a U-turn on. But, in career terms, Sunak was parliamentary under-secretary of state for local government a while back. And then chancellor, of course. So he really ought to have some ideas. And Truss spent two years as secretary of state for the environment. Then again, she also said in 2019 that the government should build 1m homes on the green belt.
I bet the environment lobby didn’t like that!
Neither did the developers. The National Federation of Builders said it lacked nuance and took the focus off regeneration.
With so little to go on, thank goodness it’s not us but the party members who have to decide between them. Who do they want as leader?
Boris Johnson (according to “friends of Boris Johnson”). Or, from the options they’ve been handed by Tory MPs, Truss. Which is tricky, because the MPs would rather have Sunak.
It’s almost like the system is designed to fail.
“Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Was that Boris?
He wishes.
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