Gove vows to fire up economy (and help save Boris)

MICHAEL Gove today unveils a radical blueprint to turbocharge the economy in deprived areas – and help Boris Johnson’s struggling premiership in the process.

The Levelling Up Secretary uses an article in today’s Mail on Sunday to vow he will take ‘the steps necessary to power up every part of the country’ and stop the economy being ‘like a jet firing on only one engine’.

In a new White Paper, he will set out plans to deliver on Mr Johnson’s key policy commitment to unleash the ‘productive power’ of every corner of the country and answer the plea of Britain’s ‘leftbehind towns’.

The pledge is seen as critical to the Prime Minister’s hopes of holding on to the swathe of ‘Red Wall’ seats the Tories seized from Labour in the 2019 Election.

But Mr Gove’s intervention comes with Mr Johnson facing a barrage of allegations about Partygate events in No 10 – with some of those same Red Wall Tories now plotting to sack him in protest at claims of Covid rule-breaking at the heart of Government.

Mr Gove’s White Paper, to be published on Wednesday, is designed to put flesh on the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment to ‘levelling up all parts of the United Kingdom’.

But it comes with Downing Street steeling itself for another week of tensions and revelations over parties, with a report by senior civil servant Sue Gray expected to be delivered to No 10 imminently.

To the fury of many Tory MPs, Scotland Yard is also carrying out a investigation into the events.

In his MoS article, Mr Gove says that ‘after two long Covid years we need to get this country moving at top speed again. We need faster growth, quicker public services, higher wages, and a power shift to the people.’

The Levelling Up Secretary adds: ‘While talent is spread equally across the UK, opportunity is not.

‘Our country is a success story, but not everyone is sharing in it. The further you are from one of our great capitals – whether it’s London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast – the tougher life can be. That has to change.

‘We need to tackle, and reverse, the inequality that is limiting so many horizons, and which also harms our economy.’

Lisa Nandy, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, said: ‘The places that used to power our country have only got the crumbs from the table. That has created huge inequalities which Labour will focus on fixing.’