Michael Gove said he understands why Scousers will be cynical about his promises to level up - but said he believes the tough austerity measures taken in the past decade were needed.
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up was the keynote speaker at the Convention of the North, which was held in Liverpool today (Tuesday).
Speaking from The Spine in the city's Paddington Village, Mr Gove, who last week revealed his much-anticipated Levelling Up white paper, said: "We simply can’t go on with the gulf between rich and poor, North and South, growing. It is not simply a matter of social justice, it is also a matter of economic efficiency."
Read more: Don't leave us behind: Levelling up must work for babies of our region
He said the North of the country would be where “political action” was for the next nine years and beyond and vowed to empower regional political and business leaders.
But asked by the ECHO whether he believed the austerity agenda of successive governments, which saw cities like Liverpool hit with hundreds of millions of pounds of funding cuts, was fair, he said he believes it was necessary.
Liverpool Council has lost more than £450m in government funding since 2010, with the region's other councils hit similarly hard.
Responding to our questions, Mr Gove said he understood why people in Liverpool may be 'cynical' about his pledges now after the difficulties of the past 12 years.
He said: "There will be an ongoing debate about the steps taken in the immediate aftermath of the economic crisis in 2008, to bring the public finances back into balance.
"I think that was necessary. You can never know with perfect hindsight whether the restrictions on public spending were just right, even during the first few years.
"But I can quite understand why communities, which were already facing a tough time and have faced a uniquely tough time during austerity, will be at best sceptical and at worst cynical about the government's commitment to level up.
"All I would say is judge us on our actions in the future."
He added: "All of us will judge it in our own way, but I entirely understand why people in Liverpool will require convincing and its part of my job to do that."
The ECHO also asked Mr Gove whether he believes Prime Minister Boris Johnson should apologise for false statements he made about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Saville, to which he said: "Its a uniquely sensitive issue and I think the sooner the debate moves on the better."
Earlier in the day the Secretary of State had praised the 'powerful' campaign from the ECHO and other Northern and Midlands newspapers, which called on him not to leave the people - and the children - of our regions behind.
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