Johnson faces backbench bloc of Northern Research Group demanding investment ‘to level up north’, transPennine railway and local tax powers
They have been described as the “biggest threat to Boris Johnson’s authority since he came to power” with the potential to cause as much trouble as Jacob Rees Mogg’s backbench power base during the Brexit negotiations.
Led by Jake Berry, the former northern powerhouse minister more than 50 Conservative MPs in the north of England, Scottish borders and north Wales, have written to the prime minister demanding a roadmap out of the coronavirous lockdown and investment to address the north-south divide that governments “have failed to tackle for decades”.
