Inherent flaws and political churn doomed Boris Johnson’s signature policy – and it was hobbled through bureaucracy and high inflation
- No progress made on half of levelling-up targets
- Report card: how the Tories’ pledges stack up today
- ‘We’re forgotten about here’: the broken promises
Last February, the Treasury lost patience with Michael Gove.
The levelling up secretary had just given a speech in Manchester during which he announced £30m to pay for improvements to substandard housing. Officials had already blocked him from using that speech to announce a larger pot of money for local authorities, and then they decided to stop him allocating any capital spending of £30m or more without Treasury approval.
