Are we really getting your LEVEL BEST, Prime Minister?

AS THE TORY PARTY CONFERENCE ARRIVES IN MANCHESTER, JOSEPH TIMAN LOOKS AT HOW GOVERNMENT IS DOING WITH ITS LEVELLING UP MEASURES

- JOSEPH TIMAN

THE Conservatives won a decisive victory in 2019 as Boris Johnson vowed to 'level up' the UK. The ex-Prime Minister thanked lifelong Labour supporters in 'red wall' seats including in Greater Manchester who 'lent' him their votes.

It was not the first time his party made such a promise. Nor was it the first to the North of England.

Five years earlier, when George Osborne was Chancellor, he promised us high-speed trains from London; a new railway line across the North; and two more platforms at Piccadilly.

Mr Johnson repeated previous pledges and made some more when he delivered one of his first major speeches as Prime Minister at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry days after entering Downing Street.

Two years after winning a landslide, his government set out what it meant by 'levelling up' - listing 12 missions, with a target date of 2030.

Since then there have certainly been some broken promises Northern Powerhouse Rail, which was set to connect east to west, has been scaled back, high-speed rail might not even come to Manchester as the HS2 saga rumbles on, and plans for new platforms at Piccadilly which were supposed to ease rail congestion have been pulled.

There has also been some progress the new 'Trailblazer' devolution deal giving Greater Manchester more power to make our own decisions, and more than £1bn of funding for public transport leading to the launch of the Bee Network.

The government says it has been spreading wealth and opportunity across the UK as part of its long-term levelling-up programme. This includes spending more than £600m on levelling up projects in Greater Manchester since 2019.