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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Nicholas Cecil

Angela Rayner scraps levelling up 'slogan' branding it a 'gimmick'

Angela Rayner axed the words levelling up from her title and Whitehall ministry, branding the term a “slogan”.

The Deputy Prime Minister tweeted out the change on Tuesday morning.

She messaged: “A Government of public service means fixing the fundamentals to deliver for the British people.

“No more gimmicks and slogans, but the hard yards of governing in the national interest.

“The department I lead will be the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.”

Earlier, communities minister Jim McMahon said “levelling up” had been stripped out of Government and ministerial job titles.

At the time, though, Ms Rayner’s Twitter was still naming her as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Levelling Up.

The Whitehall department that she oversees was also still also being called on parts of its website the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, though this changed later.

Angela Rayner’s Twitter (Rayner)

But this was changed by shortly before 9am.

Angela Rayner new Twitter (Angela Rayner)

Mr Mr McMahon had been asked by BBC Breakfast if the slogan would remain a part of his job title.

He replied: “No, it was firmly tippexed out of the department yesterday, so we are now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

“Why that is important for me is levelling up was only ever a slogan, it wasn’t a thing that people felt in their communities.”

After adding that it was also important to ensure local government was included in the department’s title, he said: “It is a reshaping of the department. It is a refocus, but frankly it is also just grown up politics.”

But pressed on Ms Rayner, who with Sir Keir Starmer was meeting mayors in No10 on Tuesday morning, still being referred to at that time as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Mr McMahon told LBC Radio: “Maybe the tippex has been brought out before the keyboard.

“It’s gone.

“We have been a bit busy over the last five days but we will certainly make sure that the website is changed.

“But the serious point is, levelling up was only ever a slogan and it’s important that people realise that we are absolutely committed to making sure that every community in every part of the country realise the difference of a Labour government.”

Tory MPs and former ministers would dispute the Labour claim that levelling up was just a slogan.

But some Tory ministers were accused of “bashing” London as they pursued their levelling up agenda for other regions of the country.

Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister, introduced levelling up to deliver what Leavers said would be the benefits of Brexit, but quitting the European Union is now seen by many experts to have damaged Britain’s economy.

The return to the department’s previous name is expected to cost around £10,000 plus VAT, with some of the old signage being reused.

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