A new hard-hitting report from an influential group of MPs published today says the Government’s levelling up programme could result in inequalities worsening rather than improving over the next 10-20 years.

The report, by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for ‘Left Behind’ Neighbourhoods, says the most deprived areas in England – the very places levelling up is meant to help – are missing out because funding isn’t reaching them and there is insufficient collaboration with local people who know best what investment would benefit their community. Instead, projects are often dictated by people far away Westminster and Whitehall without local involvement, meaning benefits don’t reach the areas that need it most.

The report comes at a topical time, soon after the scaling back of HS2 raised questions about the government’s commitment to levelling up, and after an academic paper published earlier this week by Kings College London and Harvard Kennedy School found three former prime ministers of different stripes – Major, Blair and Brown – say that decades of inconsistent regional policy had resulted in years of failure and widening inequality.

This is an important report because while there have been lots of accusations thrown at levelling up this is the first in-depth enquiry to actually explore how the government’s current approach is working on the ground. The APPG spent over a year talking to people that levelling up is meant to help, taking evidence from people in some of the most challenged areas of England, known as ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods.

The report says to be successful and sustainable, levelling up must reflect local needs and circumstances; it can’t be something that is ‘done to people’, with decisions over investment and priorities made by Whitehall and simply imposed on communities.

The APPG report makes a number of recommendations to address these issues, including:

faster progress should be made on creating a Community Wealth Fund, enabling long term funding over 10-15 years for left behind neighbourhoods;
as ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods have historically missed out on their fair share of public funding from bidding rounds, funds should be allocated to them on a non-competitive basis;
the government should commit to ‘double devolution’ – in other words, devolution below the level of combined and local authorities, giving decision-making powers and resources to the residents of ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods.;
introduction of an enhanced Community Right to Buy, which would help communities save local assets like pubs, clubs and green spaces and support the provision of new local amenities and facilities.