The Tories seem to be cooling on Boris Johnson’s signature policy

Few places need levelling up more than the Royal housing estate in Edlington, a town in South Yorkshire once dominated by coal mining. Houses have been abandoned and boarded up; local children terrorise some of the remaining residents. The local Conservative mp, Nick Fletcher, has a plan for the estate. He wants to lock up criminals, hold community meetings, tidy people’s front gardens and use government funds to spruce up the high street. But his party seems to be losing interest.

“Levelling up”, a catch-all term for economic development, infrastructure and beautification projects in the poorer parts of Britain, was Boris Johnson’s big domestic idea. The assumption was that in 2019 Conservatives such as Mr Fletcher won election in traditionally Labour “red wall” seats in the north of England because the Tories promised to get Brexit done and because Labour was led by Jeremy Corbyn. In order to hold such seats, however, Tories must demonstrate that they can quickly improve people’s lives. Hence levelling up.