Earlier this week The Press, along with other regional newspapers, urged the two candidates to be next Conservative Prime Minister – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – not to turn their backs on the North.

We put five questions to the two rivals – as well as to Labour's shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy. Here's what they had to say…

 

1. What will you do to make sure the commitments made to the North are kept?

Rishi Sunak: “We need to grip inflation. Once we’ve got inflation under control we will rebuild the economy. As Chancellor I put over £100 billion towards Levelling Up. If chosen as Prime Minister, I will double down on that work, with greater devolution and continued investment."

Liz Truss: "I will deliver on our 2019 manifesto and do even more to deliver new jobs, new industry, and a better opportunity for all. We need to ensure that opportunity is equally spread across the UK. That means equalising the levelling up formula to make sure that areas left behind get the support they deserve.”

Lisa Nandy: The only way to tackle soaring inflation is to get the economy growing. That is why Labour will invest £28bn a year every year for a decade to bring good, well-paid jobs back to our coastal and industrial towns. We will reinvigorate high streets by freezing and reforming business rates. And we will hand powers over skills, transport and housing to communities and local leaders."

 

2. The average worker in the North is 50% less productive than one in London. What will you do to address this?

Sunak: "We need to tool up the North to boost productivity. First, targeted, strategic investment to create better jobs with higher wages. Second, innovation - we need to encourage companies to invest more in research and development. Finally, education. If we get the education of our children right today, we secure our, and their, future." 

Truss: "We will build the Northern Powerhouse Rail to link up communities and unlock potential across the North. We will take advantage of the opportunities this will bring by introducing new Investment Zones to encourage industry to set up shop in the North.”

Nandy: "Handing power to local areas. The Regional Development Agencies, scrapped by the Tories, were instrumental in building the growing wind industry in Grimsby and the world leading Advanced Manufacturing centre in Rotherham. They saw the potential in a coastal town that is one of the windiest in Europe and in a part of Yorkshire that had a strong legacy of skills from the steel industry."

 

3. What will you do to address spiralling rates of child poverty in parts of Northern England?

Sunak: "Education has the power to level up the country and improve life prospects for all. It is the closest thing that we have to a silver bullet and the best way to improve our children’s future."

Truss: "We will bring down average energy bills by £153 by putting a moratorium on the green energy levy. And we’ll reverse the National Insurance rate rise, saving average workers another £240 every year."

Nandy: "We would bring forward the uprating of benefits, cut VAT on energy bills, scrap leasehold charges and put rocket boosters under home insulation programme to cut bills for most houses for good to the tune of at least £400 a year."

 

4. How far will you go to give Northern leaders control over education and skills, transport and health budgets?

Sunak: “My Government would give a devolution deal to anywhere in England that wanted one. I will look at giving local people more flexibility on post-16 education, and further flexibility on business rates for Mayors. I will also work with local leaders on what the future of transport looks like in the north.”

Truss: “We need to empower local leaders and businesses to take the decisions that affect local people and listen to local leaders when we build infrastructure to grow Northern communities. That’s why I'll reform the planning system and implement a ‘bottom-up’ approach to planning, which includes scrapping Whitehall-imposed housing targets that too often overlook the schools, hospitals, and transport hubs needed to support communities.”

Nandy: “We will replace the system that forces our northern mayors and council leaders to go cap in hand to Whitehall for small grants. We will work with northern leaders and communities so devolution reflects our identity, economic geography and the wishes of local people. Finally, we will end the Hunger Games-style grants that force us to compete for small pots of our money and give communities the powers and resources to buy vital local assets when they come up for sale.”

 

5. Will you retain a government department responsible for tackling regional inequalities led by a Cabinet-level Minister?

Sunak: “If chosen to be your next Prime Minister, I promise to keep the North front centre of my mind in all that I do. It’s what my constituents and family would expect from me. But of course, no Prime Minister can be everywhere all at once, which is why I would retain a Cabinet-level Secretary of State responsible for levelling up, who I will task with tackling regional inequalities, reuniting the country, and fueling the powerhouses of the North.

Truss: “Yes.” 

Nandy: “A seat at the Cabinet table is essential and I will make it my mission to deliver for the North - and by doing so for the whole of Britain – once in Government. Keir Starmer has made clear that getting the economy growing again by tackling geographical inequality will be one of the defining missions of the next Labour government.

While the last Levelling Up secretary couldn’t find backing from No. 10 or the Treasury, we are working as a team to set out a different future for Britain.