Thread by @pmdfoster

So what does levelling up even mean? And how has #COVID19 reshaped the challenge?

Tl;dr its no-longer a north-south divide issue.

Report out today from @CentreforCities which @FinancialTimes covers here:
#CitiesOutlook2021 /1

ft.com/content/cb3ae4…

@CentreforCities @FinancialTimes First how do you define 'levelling up challenge' - the government hasn't really, beyond some aspirational waffle....so the @CentreforCities uses a rough measure by comparing benefit 'claimant count' with national average. See this. /2

You can see in March 2020, before pandemic impacts were visible, cities such as Hull, Birmingham, Blackpool and Bradford clearly topping the tables and most in need of 'levelling up'.../3

But look. By November last year southern towns, such as Crawley and Slough — crippled by reliance on nearby airports — had similar rates. These were also matched in poorer London boroughs such as Newham, Haringey and Brent. /4

So as @Paul_Swinney explains:“Places like Crawley, Luton and London that went into the crisis in good shape have been hit with large increases in unemployment. [This] has created a second challenge, which is that we’re now at risk of ‘levelling down’.” /5

@Paul_Swinney Here's another chart that explains the scale challenge of - as @TorstenBell tell me - reversing Covid-related unemployment, much of which has yet to materialise.

“What it shows is that the pandemic, almost across the board, has made all objectives of government harder. /6

@Paul_Swinney @TorstenBell This - as @DanJarvisMP tells my colleague @AndyBounds - doesn't mean that North South divide has gone away, and history suggests North has less capacity to recover quickly - BUT it does add an additional tension/dimension to politics of #levellingup ENDS