Levelling up will only work if Boris Johnson builds bridges across party lines – Justine Greening

In 2020, Britain and countries around the world were overwhelmed by a pandemic in a way no one ever expected. Our whole country has struggled to deal with it – governments, businesses, communities, families.

It has been a wretched time. Yet as we look ahead, 2021 brings the prospect of a vaccine and full-scale immunisation, which can finally put the virus into retreat.

There may be no moment that victory is declared but we can now look ahead as we begin a steady march towards the restoration of a day-to-day
freedom in our lives and normality that we have not enjoyed for many months. 

But what sort of normal? Is it back to how life was before or could it be a better version of life and Britain that lies ahead? That is ours to choose and we should be bold.

Covid-19 brought home the tenuousness of life. As a small child, I remember watching a TV news report about a hijacked plane. It sat on a runway in Africa with the sun beating down on it.

Its passengers were still on board as their release was negotiated. I wondered how it felt for them, not knowing if they were ever going to get off that plane alive. I felt the best way to cope would be to know that you had no regrets. And that’s how I’ve tried to live my life ever since – no regrets.

It’s what Britain now needs to do as it enters the brave new world of 2021 – have no regrets and run confidently towards a future that can be better for all of us if we have the courage to make it so.

This is a country that needs to change – we all know that. If Covid-19 has underlined anything about life in Britain today, it is that we face significant inequalities in terms of the outcomes of the lives our people lead.

We have grown used to debating these inequalities, as report after report sets them out, and the danger is we end up accepting them as a given, another social norm. 

But what “normal” we want it to be is up to us. Our choice must now be to tackle those inequalities in life chances and in doing so unlock this country’s post-Covid future.

We require much from our Government in 2021. We need leadership from Ministers, a level of ambition for our country that is more than rhetoric and has the bolted-down plans to change lives for the better. 2021 must mark an end to the politics of division that has beset Britain in recent years.

It ill-serves our people to see Westminster playing politics and scoring party political points at a time our country needs collectively rebuilding and reshaping. 

Boris Johnson should not be reticent about building bridges across the political lines. If he truly wants a levelled-up Britain, where people can get on in life irrespective of who they are or where they live, then he must accept that to succeed any 
long-term plan needs the assurance of cross-party support.

There will be vested interests to take on in both main parties, those for whom continued division, self-serving culture wars and a country with problems unaddressed is an easier status quo. But it’s time to move on to solutions.

The country needs much more now.

During this pandemic the most inspiring moments of the year have been the millions of acts of kindness that happened nationwide – whether taking care of your own relatives, even as you struggled to take care of yourself; whether working in our public services with a public never more reliant on them; whether being part of a broader community support network or running a business that went the extra mile to help. And so much more besides.

It all helped Britain get through. People around the country were part of the solution on Covid-19 and we can be part of the solution on what must come next – levelling up – the guarantee that everyone can get on in their lives.

We face difficult times ahead. There are millions of children with disrupted education, alongside a million young people entering a bleak jobs market, trying to take their first career steps when it’s the hardest of times. 

We should not turn our faces away from those children and young people for whom that start is the most difficult.

Through our action, or inaction, we make a choice of what kind of adults we all want them to have the chance to become when they grow up.

This is no time to leave them frustrated and languishing at home. They all have so much to offer our country and a better version of Britain needs all their talents. 

Let’s take the spirit of 2020 into the new year of 2021. Governments, communities, our educators and business all have a role. Whatever you do, do something. It has to be a national effort to build a better,
levelled-up Britain.

Join it.

Justine Greening is a former Education Secretary. Born in Rotherham, she now heads the Social Mobility Pledge.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.