Sunday, September 19, 2021
Johnson searches for a plan
It comes to no surprise to many of us that the Prime Minister has admitted that he hasn't a clue how to implement his main policy agenda. The Independent reports that two months ago, in Coventry, Boris Johnson admitted he has only “the skeleton” of a plan to level up the country, after being challenged that he had failed to set out how to tackle “entrenched inequalities”.
But do not fear, he has now employed a former Bank of England chief economist to breathe life into the troubled “levelling up” agenda, and he has renamed the housing ministry as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, because naming things always makes a difference. Unfortunately, this department no longer references local government in its name, a key component of any levelling up agenda.
As for levelling up itself, even Conservative MPs have admitted that the “slogan” lacks substance and is currently designed to “mean all things to all people”, as one put it. While Johnson has been accused of undermining it with spending cuts, a failure to devolve meaningful power and by “political bias” in handing out government funds.
That's a lot of u-turns the prime minister needs to execute if his new guru is to make this work.
But do not fear, he has now employed a former Bank of England chief economist to breathe life into the troubled “levelling up” agenda, and he has renamed the housing ministry as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, because naming things always makes a difference. Unfortunately, this department no longer references local government in its name, a key component of any levelling up agenda.
As for levelling up itself, even Conservative MPs have admitted that the “slogan” lacks substance and is currently designed to “mean all things to all people”, as one put it. While Johnson has been accused of undermining it with spending cuts, a failure to devolve meaningful power and by “political bias” in handing out government funds.
That's a lot of u-turns the prime minister needs to execute if his new guru is to make this work.
