In her first major interview since becoming Levelling Up Minister three weeks ago, Dehenna Davison talks to Chris Lloyd about the policy she insists is at the heart of the new government
Levelling up is living the dream for Dehenna Davison who insists that the policy is at the centre of the new government’s thinking.
The Bishop Auckland MP was offered her first ministerial post, in the Department for Levelling Up, on the day the Queen died.
“It was quite a surreal experience,” she says. “The levelling up role is for me the dream. It is not just something I am passionate about but it is at the core of my ethos, so to be able to play my part in delivering it for my constituency, for the North East and parts of the country that really need it is a real honour.”
“Levelling up” was a catchphrase coined by Boris Johnson in 2019 to boost usually Labour-controlled areas in the north that felt they had missed out on the economic successes of the south. It helped Mr Johnson tear down the red wall of Labour’s heartland so that Bishop Auckland, a huge constituency that also covers Teesdale, Spennymoor and Shildon, elected a Conservative MP for the first time since its creation in 1885.
But now Mr Johnson has fallen, replaced with a more traditionally Conservative-sounding Liz Truss, there is speculation that interest in levelling up is levelling off.
“It is still absolutely crucial,” says Ms Davison. “There has been this odd narrative that that isn't the case. There is absolutely no way that as someone who cares about levelling up so much I would have taken this job if I didn't think it was going to be heavily prioritised under a Liz Truss government.”
She points to Ms Truss’s conference speech where the Prime Minister talked of “levelling up in a Conservative way” and of the need to “fund the furthest behind first”.
“The naysayers need to listen to what’s actually being said,” says Ms Davison.
In the past, levelling up has meant all things to all people. In Darlington, it means Treasury jobs; in Redcar, it means college improvements; in Sedgefield, it means new rail connections.
To Ms Davison, it means a “fully holistic package” which takes in living standards, transport, health inequalities and educational outcomes, but it begins with Ms Truss’s number one priority.
“Right now, the best way we can do all that is by having a focus on growth because if the economy isn't growing, if the pie isn't getting bigger, then everyone is going to suffer,” says Ms Davison.
She was visiting Teesside Airport yesterday – her second ministerial visit after a trip to the Orkneys – which is expected to bid to become one of the first of the new investment zones.
“The zones are all about speeding up, about getting projects completed as quickly as possible,” she says.
The zones were first outlined in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which also contained £45bn of tax cuts.
“The reason we're cutting taxes is not an ideological crusade but it is to put more money back in hard working people's pockets and also to make it much more attractive for businesses to invest, to get the economy growing for all of the benefits that will bring every single one of us,” says Ms Davison.
She concedes, though, that some people thought the plan to reduce the 45p top rate of tax was a cut too far. “It's a tough one because I'm broadly in favour of simplifying the tax system but I think this was exactly the wrong time to do this when we need to be focusing on the areas and the people that really need our input,” she says.
At 29, Ms Davison is the Government’s youngest minister but she’s wise enough to know which party lines to toe. A forthcoming flashpoint is going to be on whether to raise benefits by less than inflation – a decision that will impact those poorer areas in need of levelling up.
The levelling up minister, though, is leaving the decision to her counterpart in the Department of Work and Pensions who will weigh up all the evidence.
“As a minister, I would be pretty frustrated if I heard another government minister telling me how I should be doing my job so I'm not going to do that,” says Ms Davison.
A big and imminent decision in her own department concerns devolution to the North East. The LA6 – six local authorities of Wearside, Tyneside and Northumberland – have agreed a deal by which they will gain money and powers and an elected mayor, but Durham is humming and haaing about whether to join them or whether to go it alone, either with a mayor or without.
“It's going to be really tough decision. I'm still open to persuasion,” says Ms Davison. “Ultimately, I'm in favour of devolution. I think empowering local leadership is absolutely the right way to get on because local leaders know better what is right for their area than anyone sitting in Whitehall.”
The success of the levelling up agenda is going to be crucial to the Johnsonless Conservatives’ chances of clinging onto red wall seats like Bishop, where in just two years, Ms Davison will defend her 7,962 majority.
She talks of how by then levelling up funds will be beginning to rejuvenate high streets and bring about cultural regeneration so that “people have pride in the places in which they grow up”.
“Transport is a huge feature of this too,” she continues, perhaps with a road around Toft Hill in her own constituency on her mind. “A small infrastructure spend on a local bypass really can have a huge impact on people's lives, on their productivity and on their own mental well-being.”
She says: “I want people to be able to see a tangible difference within their local communities, of businesses opening and fewer shops boarded up, and more opportunities for people to work on their own doorstep.
“And then they will see the incredible investment and change on Teesside which means those who want skilled jobs in manufacturing and engineering will be able to access them.”
Levelling up is about dreaming big, about ending inequalities that have built up over decades, but real change will have to become visible soon before people dismiss it as just a pipedream.
Read next:
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel