There was a popular Lee and Herring sketch in the 1990s in which the pair shout “you want the moon on a stick, you do”. Prime ministers, likewise, are used to being asked for more than they can possibly deliver. But usually they cherry-pick their priorities. David Cameron, or more accurately his chancellor, George Osborne, decided to focus on the north of England, with the “northern powerhouse”. With the 332-page “levelling up” white paper, Boris Johnson goes full moon-on-stick, with 12 missions which promise to address some of the most intractable problems in society – from increasing life expectancy to eliminating illiteracy and innumeracy – all by 2030. Only the most churlish of critics could argue against halving the number of poor-quality rented homes or reducing crime, but they may well ask: how are you going to pay for it? The white paper does not have the answer. Some of the missions are simpler than others. It feels plausible that the government could ensure an increase of 40% in domestic public investment in R&D outside the greater south-east in eight years. Rolling out 4G broadband to the whole of the UK and 5G to most of the population seems achievable in that time frame too. China could do it in a few months. One of the policies proposed under the mission of reducing homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime is a “national spring clean”, under which offenders on community service would spruce up their local streets. Increasing healthy life expectancy will be much harder, involving as it does human willpower rather than fibre-optic cable. It is much easier to dig up a road than to get people to stop smoking, drink less and eat better. The white paper promises a “devolution revolution”, with more mayors “for those areas that want one”. Does this mean a series of referendums to ask the people of Cornwall – and eight other places, including Hull and East Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk and Suffolk – if they want their own Andy Burnham or Ben Houchen? Or will it be for local councils to make the decision? Are the powers on offer sufficient to complete these national missions locally without just following government orders? One reason Johnson likes mayors, now he isn’t one, is that he can devolve blame for the local implementation of unpopular national policies. In Greater Manchester, Burnham is currently at risk of turning from king of the north into an enemy of small business people after following government instructions to reduce air pollution by bringing in a clean air zone. The most polluting vans, buses, lorries and camper vans will soon be charged between £10 and £60 a day to drive around the 500-square-mile region. Burnham pleaded with the government for a rethink on Wednesday after Johnson dismissed the plan as “completely unworkable” at prime minister’s questions.
Ten days after it emerged the government had halved the money it promised for improving local bus services, the white paper promises that by 2030 “local public transport connectivity across the country will be significantly closer to the standards of London”. “London standards” means regular services and sensible fares across all transport modes. It is often helpful to compare the service offered by London’s 46-mile Central line with trains chuntering between neighbouring towns and cities far from the capital. Take Sheffield and Doncaster, just 22 miles apart. There are currently just two trains an hour between these major conurbations, with a journey time of up to 41 minutes. The levelling up paper – like the integrated rail plan before it, which cancelled HS2 to Sheffield – does not offer a solution to this frankly embarrassing state of affairs. But it does single out the Steel City, along with Wolverhampton, as one of the first places to benefit from a project to “restore local pride” by “transforming derelict urban sites into beautiful communities”. Instead, under “transport”, there is a promise of a pilot project in Cornwall to “enable increased frequencies and reduced fares, with high-frequency services in densely- populated areas and new forms of demand-responsive transport to places, such as business parks and rural villages, that are not well served by linear bus routes”. All six Cornish constituencies are currently represented by Conservatives. Make of that what you will.