"Levelling up" is a political policy first articulated in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that aims to reduce the imbalances, primarily economic, between areas and social groups across the United Kingdom. It seeks to do so without acting to the detriment of prosperous areas, such as much of South East England. A white paper for the policy was published by Boris Johnson's government on 2 February 2022, and has been continued by Rishi Sunak's government. The policy is overseen by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the incumbent Secretary of State is Michael Gove.
The concept of levelling up has bipartisan support. Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, said in October 2022 that a future Labour government would "pick up the challenge of levelling up", but that his party believed only they would be able to deliver it, calling Johnson's plan to deliver levelling up "an empty slogan".
History
Origins
"Levelling-up" was first used in the House of Commons in 1868 in relation to equality between Catholicism and the Church of England, with Serjeant Barry, the Solicitor General for Ireland, saying "If religious equality were attempted in England, it must be either by levelling up or levelling down." Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli responded by noting the phrase to be one which "seems to be a very favourite one with Hon. Gentlemen opposite" and said that he should "very much like to have their views as to the distinct meaning they attribute to the phrase".
At a televised hustings event on 24 April 1997, Labour Party leader Tony Blair, who shortly after became prime minister, stated: ‘I don’t want to level down, I want to level up’, when discussing his preference for low taxes in support of upwardly social mobility.
As a newly elected MP, future Prime Minister Theresa May used the term during an education debate in the House of Commons in 1997. She described socialism as "levelling down" and conservatism as "levelling up".
Former Conservative MP for Putney Justine Greening said in 2021 that she invented the term "levelling up" in 2014, while attempting to explain the concept of social mobility to her mother. In her acceptance speech after securing her seat in the 2015 general election, Greening pledged to focus "on making sure we have a levelled up Britain where everyone can achieve their potential wherever they start, wherever they’re born”. During her tenure as Education Secretary, the phrase "levelling up" appeared increasingly frequently in Department for Education papers, as well as Greening's own speeches and op-eds. However, outside of the Department for Education, the phrase did not receive more widespread use during the Cameron or May premierships.
Greening claims to have spoken to all candidates in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election about the importance of levelling up, but that only Johnson appeared to show any enthusiasm for it.
The first use of "levelling up" as an official Conservative Party policy was in the party's manifesto for the 2019 general election, which stated that a Johnson government "will use this investment prudently and strategically to level up every part of the United Kingdom, while strengthening the ties that bind it together."
Launch
Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a speech on the policy on 15 July 2021, where he described the various inequalities currently experienced across the United Kingdom. He contrasted "levelling up" with "levelling down" by saying that levelling up would seek to improve everywhere, rather than the zero sum averaging regional policies of the past, stating "we don't think you can make the poor parts of the country richer by making the rich parts poorer". Johnson also included social and quality of life issues such as fighting gang crime, obesity, mental health, uneven life-expectancy and excessive elective surgery waiting times within the wider levelling up agenda.
MP Neil O'Brien was the Prime Minister's levelling up adviser, producing a detailed report in September 2020 setting out the case for levelling up.
The 2020 Treasury spending review announced a £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund for interim capital investment in local infrastructure. Local authorities were ranked into three tiers by need, and invited to submit project bids by June 2021. The first round focused on transport projects, town centre and high street regeneration, and cultural investment. Two other funds are considered within the interim levelling up agenda: the Community Renewal Fund, which replaces the European Structural and Investment Funds for skills, employment, local businesses, and communities, and the £3.6 billion Towns Fund for 101 towns.