What just happened
- New Zealand said it would begin the phased reopening of its borders after almost two years of controlling Covid by keeping them closed.
- Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, raised the price cap on default household tariffs to £1,971 per year (more below).
- Australian experts claimed to have discovered the wreck of James Cook’s ship The Endeavour in 14 metres of water off Rhode Island.
Britain’s Conservatives are trying to fulfill a promise that brought them to power, and to fix a problem – structural decline in neglected regions of the country – that caused Brexit. They are trying to do this with no new money, which leaves only the power of the bully pulpit and the law.
The result is Michael Gove’s 332-page Levelling Up white paper. It’s part text book and part wishful thinking but it also contains policies that could change how people live.
The white paper doesn’t
- contain any new spending pledges beyond those announced in last year’s spending review, which amounted to £4.8 billion;
- set out a clear plan for how its goals will be achieved; or
- pretend to bind the hands of future governments.
But it could drive budgetary allocations for the next decade. That’s big: the 12-mission blueprint pledges a step change in investment, reorientated away from the Greater South East and towards areas underfunded during the past decade of this party’s rule and before.
