The UK Government has published it’s long awaited ‘Levelling Up’ white paper.

The strategy, unveiled by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, will take until 2030 and aims to improve services such as education, broadband and transport.

At the heart of the strategy is a plan to create more regional mayors, like existing posts such as Labour’s Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, or the Conservatives’ Andy Street in the West Midlands and Ben Houchen in Tees Valley.

Every part of England would have access to “London-style” powers and a mayor if they want it, according to the levelling-up strategy, with the expectation that they would be able to target spending more effectively.

Mr Gove’s plans would bring all existing initiatives together into 12 “national missions” and set up a system for measuring progress.

Among the 12 missions are promises to refocus education spending on disadvantaged parts of the country and eliminate illiteracy and innumeracy; bring the rest of the country’s public transport closer to London standards, and provide access to 5G broadband for the “large majority” of households.

Derelict urban sites in 20 towns and cities will be targeted for redevelopment intended to create more high-quality jobs, with Sheffield and Wolverhampton the first places selected.

While the strategy majorly focuses on England only matters, there are a number of new and reaffirmed commitments to Scotland:

• A pilot Innovation Accelerator centred on Glasgow City Region with access to £100m in funding.
• 12 regions across Scotland will see £1.5bn of UK Government investment through City and Growth Deals.
• Of these, the Ayrshire Growth Deal will see a total of up to £103m invested to create over 7,000 new jobs across Ayrshire.
• The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal will deliver up to £265m of investment over the next ten to 15 years, supporting cross-border partnership, innovation and growth.
• The Tay Cities Region Deal will deliver up to £150m of investment to the region, i ncluding in aviation and cyber security, and Stirling and Clackmannanshire will see £45m of investment.
• Commitment from the UK Government to continue to work closely with the Scottish Government on a range of policies to drive tangible change in places and improve life chances.

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