Despite the gloomy short-term economic outlook, there are signs that Labour’s growth-orientated reform engine is starting to crank up. The updated National Planning Policy Framework in now in place and the retitled Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has unveiled its alternative to levelling up, with the publication of the devolution white paper, Power and Partnership, Foundations for Growth.

Keen readers might recall a column I wrote on levelling up way back in 2022. I observed even then that the success of the policy hung in the balance.

Implementation failed when central government chose to level up through existing local government structures, micro-managing regeneration, for example, by using selective patronage and wasteful competitive bid processes. Ironically, levelling up highlighted just how centralised England has become.