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Starmer: Labour will be party of 'levelling up'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date29 March 2024
Publication titleHuddersfield Daily Examiner
But the Labour leader would not commit to "turn the taps on" to help local councils fill their funding black holes

Sir Keir suggested the local elections were a chance for voters to send "another message" to the Conservatives, as he urged Rishi Sunak to call a general election.

Ahead of the May 2 polls, the Labour leader touted his party's "local growth plan", and suggested he favoured longer-term funding deals for councils if his party were to win power at a general election.

At the launch alongside his deputy Angela Rayner, Sir Keir appeared to praise the sentiment behind the levelling up agenda, but suggested his party would drive a "fundamental shift" in politics through devolution.

He added: "My frustration of the past 14 years, but particularly since 2019, is that in saying levelling up, the Government was tapping into something real that people yearned for, but they didn't have a viable plan. We intend to turn that around and make sure that we can make that connection real."

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove hit back at the Labour leader, telling broadcasters: "Keir Starmer couldn't be more wrong. We are the party that's been leading on levelling up for years now."

The Government minister added that neglected areas had seen "an infusion of cash and a power surge" under the Tories and that Labour had "come with nothing new to say".

The Local Government...

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