The new Labour government said it intends to ditch the words ‘levelling up’ as it announced a major devolution programme to “power up” all parts of the country.
On announcing the news earlier today, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said the government was reverting to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) former name.
“No more gimmicks and slogans, but the hard yards of governing in the national interest. The department I lead will be the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,” said Rayner.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Jim McMahon, the new government minister for housing, communities and local government said the levelling up aspect of the department had been “firmly Tippexed out”.
“We are now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,” said McMahon. “That is important for me because levelling up was only ever a slogan – it wasn’t a thing people felt in their communities. It is a reshaping of the department, it is a refocus but frankly it is just grown-up politics.”
Levelling up was a key strand of Boris Johnson’s general election campaign in 2019, with the former prime minister changing the name of the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the DLUHC.
Keir Starmer and Rayner met all of England’s regional mayors this morning to begin the process of shifting power out of Westminster through a major programme of devolution that will “power up” all corners of the country.
Rayner said: “For too long a Westminster government has tightly gripped control and held back opportunities and potential for towns, cities and villages across the UK. That’s meant misguided decisions devastating the lives of working people, while our elected local leaders are forced to beg for scraps at the whim of Whitehall.
“It’s time to take back control, and this new government is focused on setting that potential free, with a full reset of our relationship with local government. All of this starts with proper, grown up conversations with our regional mayors, to make changes that help them deliver local economic growth with better housing, education and jobs for local people.
“Work will now continue at pace to deliver on manifesto commitments to transfer power out of Whitehall, and into our communities, with upcoming devolution legislation to take back control.”
