The end of levelling up: Angela Rayner scraps flagship Tory plan - dismissing it as a ‘gimmick’
9 July 2024, 09:56 | Updated: 9 July 2024, 10:21
Labour’s Angela Rayner has scrapped the Tories' “levelling up” slogan and removed it from her job title, branding it a “gimmick.”
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The newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister took to X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning to confirm the change.
She wrote: “A Government of public service means fixing the fundamentals to deliver for the British people.
“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.”
Earlier, communities minister Jim McMahon told reporters Ms Rayner had removed the term from ministerial job titles in Whitehall.
He said it had been “firmly tippexed out of the department yesterday.”
A Government of public service means fixing the fundamentals to deliver for the British people.
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) July 9, 2024
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.
Yet, her X account and several government websites still used the term, referring to her as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
This morning, LBC Radio pointed this out to Mr McMahon.
“Maybe the tippex has been brought out before the keyboard,” he responded.
“It’s gone.
“We have been a bit busy over the last five days but we will certainly make sure that the website is changed.
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“But the serious point is, levelling up was only ever a slogan and it’s important that people realise that we are absolutely committed to making sure that every community in every part of the country realise the difference of a Labour government.”
Ms Rayner’s X account now reads: “Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.”
Levelling up was first introduced by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government.
The scheme was designed to use funds gained by leaving the European Union to boost investment and improve infrastructure across the UK.
