Since my student years in the run-up to New Labour’s victory in 1997, we simply have not made enough progress in breaking down the barriers between the “haves'” and the “have nots”, writes Professor Graeme Atherton
Levelling up was meant to be the centre piece of Boris Johnson’s Government’s domestic agenda after the2019 election. But, by any measure, inequality is set to increase unless something is done quickly, with the UK on course to become the most unequal country in the G7 by 2027.
This has thrown the gauntlet down to the opposition parties â Labour in particular. Reducing inequality is at the heart of what Labour has stood for since its birth over 100 years ago. And the problems inequality brings is central to voters in many of the seats Labour need to win if it is to form the next government.
Our new report How Can Labour Level Up? collates contributions from former ministers, leaders from the higher education and voluntary sectors, as well as thinkers and organisations from across the political spectrum. Making levelling up work is more than just a quick political fix for me.
I grew up in the 1980s in a council estate in Blackpool when, under the Thatcher government, regional inequality was deepening. Blackpool is still feeling the impact of the recessions of the 1980s on the North as it is now one of the poorest parts of Britain.