Boris Johnson to outline ‘levelling up’ plans in Queen’s Speech tomorrow
Boris Johnson is expected to outline more of his plans to “level up” the North and the Midlands in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech fresh off the back of winning a crucial by-election in Hartlepool.
The Tories also made ground in traditional Labour heartlands of Sunderland, Durham and Newcastle in local elections as it won hundreds of council seats off the opposition.
Incumbent Conservative mayor Ben Houchen also won re-election by a landslide in the North East region of Tees Valley.
The Prime Minister is now expected to give more details of his plans to economically “level up” these parts of the country, which the Financial Times reporting that this will include eight more freeports that slashes tax rates for some local companies.
There will also reportedly be a new bill to encourage more house building and plans for a post-Brexit state aid plan now the UK no longer follows EU competition rules on how much it can subsidise local companies.
The Queen’s Speech is also expected to formally announce plans to crate a new infrastructure bank in Leeds, which was announced by Rishi Sunak in his March Budget.
Johnson’s early plans to create more economic opportunities in the North have mostly been based around promises to spend tens of billions of pounds more in transport and infrastructure.
He will now be under pressure to deliver on these projects and other initiatives, after continuing to make gains in traditional Labour heartlands in the North and the Midlands.
Harborough MP Neil O’Brien was weeks ago appointed as Johnson’s levelling up policy advisor and will be tasked with providing the foundations of the agenda for the Prime Minister.