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The ditching of the levelling up phrase was welcomed by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who was in Downing Street for a meeting with all the mayors in England.<\/p>\n
He told the BBC it had too often felt like a mantra for weakening the capital at the expense of the rest of the country.<\/p>\n
The name-change also got the thumbs-up from former Conservative minister Sajid Javid who ran the department from 2016 to 2018. <\/p>\n
He said: “Whether housing, social care or community cohesion, local government has a big role to play in tackling policy challenges.<\/p>\n
“A small change, but a welcome signal of intent.”<\/p>\n
The slogan may be gone, but the general direction of travel which underpinned levelling up – more devolution, more mayors with more powers, trying to find ways to improve \u2018left behind\u2019 areas – has recently been an area of cross-party consensus. It is likely to continue under the new government. <\/p>\n
Setting out the aims of the levelling up policy in 2022, then government minister Michael Gove said that: “For far too long, the United Kingdom – England in particular – has had an economic powerhouse in London and the south east but not everyone has shared in that success.”<\/p>\n
He said the Brexit referendum in 2016 had been “a wake-up call” from overlooked and undervalued communities giving the government a “clear instruction” to change the country’s economic model.<\/p>\n
Under the last government, the Levelling Up Fund was set up to distribute nearly \u00a35bn to “shovel-ready” projects.<\/p>\n
The North West of England received the most money overall, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber. In terms of funding per head of the population, Wales came out on top. <\/p>\n
Under the fund, money was awarded to schemes aimed at boosting regeneration. Successful bids included Twycross Zoo in Bosworth, a swimming pool in Halifax and Rotherham town centre. <\/p>\n
The fund attracted some criticism including from then-Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street who said it was part of Whitehall’s “broken begging bowl culture” and the money should be allocated by local-decision makers rather than civil servants in London. <\/p>\n
Other parts of the levelling up policy included a drive to move civil servants outside of London and setting up freeports – areas exempt from some taxes – in areas including Teesside, Hull and Portsmouth. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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