Liz Truss promises to double down on levelling up if she becomes next PM

Writing in The Yorkshire Post, Ms Truss said places like Yorkshire have “simply not benefited from the same growth or opportunities”.

The leadership hopeful also claimed that she wanted to improve the transport network around the region.

She said: “I know the transport network in Yorkshire could be so much better. Leeds has great history as home to the world’s first commercially successful steam locomotive.

“Yet nowadays, it is the largest city in Europe without its own metro network. I want to fix that, and am committed to building Northern Powerhouse Rail in full.”

The Foreign Secretary once again emphasised that she would slash taxes and didn’t make any commitments to offering extra financial support for households struggling with the rise in cost of living.

Ms Truss said: “In these tough economic times, people need immediate help rather than in years to come.

“I will start to deliver that from day one by slashing taxes, including reversing the National Insurance rise, in order to put more money back in people’s pockets.”

Critics of her policy believe that tax cuts aren’t enough to help people struggling with rising fuel bills and inflation.

Her rival Rishi Sunak has labelled Ms Truss’s plan for tax cuts in an emergency budget as a “big bung” for large businesses and the better off, adding it would do little to help those most in need over the coming winter.

On his own plans, the former Chancellor said: “This winter is going to be extremely tough for families up and down the country, and there is no doubt in my mind that more support will be needed.”

The Foreign Secretary was in the region yesterday. She visited aerospace engineering firm Reliance Precision.

Ms Truss, who went to school in Leeds, says she entered politics after seeing “too many children held back by low expectations and poor educational standards”.

She added: “For too long our economy has been imbalanced. Places like Yorkshire have simply not benefited from the same growth or opportunities that London and the South-East have been afforded. We need to double down in our mission to level up the country.

“I would do this with my bold plan to get our economy back on track and to transform our country into an aspiration nation, where people from all parts and all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed.

“We will not get there by sticking to a business-as-usual approach, which has left us with the highest tax burden in 70 years and stagnant economic growth over decades.”