Lord Kerslake, in his role as chairman of the UK2070 Commission, an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities in the UK, has written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, calling on him to take inspiration from the investment programme used to revitalise East Germany post reunification to address the country’s divides.

Speaking exclusively to The Yorkshire Post, Lord Kerslake said that he appreciated that the coronavirus pandemic had made it more difficult to stick to the promises made on the campaign trail last December.

But he said Covid had only deepened the need to act quickly to close the gap between the North and the South.

He said: “It’s not just important for the North, it’s important for the country that we make levelling up work.”

Lord Kerslake said the pandemic had added “urgency and importance” to the key aims of the levelling up agenda, but that there had been an “absence of a plan to level up”.

“You can sort of see it in different documents,” he said. “But you can’t see a clear levelling up plan, what we’ve called a comprehensive large-scale and long-term plan.

“And the reason we say that is that you’re only going to achieve levelling up if you get all these bits to fit together - skills, infrastructure, local economy, research - all these things have to link together to be successful.”

Downing Street last week said the Prime Minister and the Government remained committed to the levelling up agenda, and to devolution.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has made his levelling up agenda a central part of this Government's efforts.

“The entirety of government is focused on that, whether it's in terms of transport with HS2, or with education, or building new hospitals, that is the focus of the whole Government.”

But Lord Kerslake said Mr Sunak’s spending review on November 25 delivered “warm words on levelling up” but that “it did not bring either a plan or clear leadership”.

And he said the £4bn Levelling Up Fund announced by the Chancellor “risks repeating some of the mistakes of the past”.

“It risks being short-term, it’s got to be spent in four years - and when you put these sorts of deadlines on things, there’s always a risk that the money does not get spent in the right places - and it risks being fragmented. And finally, it’s centrally controlled,” he said.

And he added: “It risks being insufficient, really, it’s not enough to do the job.”

The Treasury last week said the Levelling Up Fund was part of a bigger package including the reformation of the Green Book - the rules which dictate where investment is directed - the setting up of new Treasury offices and a new UK infrastructure bank in the North, and the relocation of 22,000 civil service roles outside of London and the South East.

And a spokesman said: “We will ensure our recovery from Covid levels up opportunities across the whole of the UK as we build back better.”

But Lord Kerslake stressed his letter sent yesterday was not an attack on the Government, and that he wished to bring “constructive challenge” and had offered to meet the Chancellor to give him his insight.

“There are some good things the Government is doing,” he said. “They have produced an infrastructure plan, for example.

“They have done some long-term planning documents, at the time of the comprehensive spending review they produced a 10-point plan for the environment, good news, they produced a national infrastructure strategy, good news.

“So it’s not that they can’t do this, but they could have done a levelling up plan, it seems to me. I absolutely accept this year has been pretty demanding, but I think the worry of some is that it’s not just the pressure of work that’s holding up a plan, it’s whether they want to have something that they’re held to account for.”

And he said: “I don’t have any criticism of the intent of Government.”

But he added: “They have not got to grips with levelling up, they haven’t really done what it is going to take to make an impact.

“We genuinely want to see the levelling up agenda to work, we generally want the Government to succeed on this, but we’re frustrated that they aren’t and that they are in danger of repeating the patterns of the past.”

And while he repeated his call to reintroduce a dedicated Cabinet minister for levelling up, he said: “George Osborne led on the Northern Powerhouse, maybe Rishi should actually lead on levelling up, he would bring a kind of firepower to that job.”

He also warned again the “huge error” that would be made if the Government was not to stick to its commitment to bringing devolution to every part of the North, following a high-profile fight with Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham over coronavirus support.

Asked about reports the Government was backing away from devolution, and whether that was a worry for levelling up, Lord Kersale said: “Yes it is, to be blunt. I am picking up the same messages that they have gone cool on it since the debacle with Andy Burnham.

“My personal view is that whether you agree or disagree with Andy, it was a coming of age of the mayors. And the Government has to accept that if the agenda is raising productivity and wealth, they have to share power and they will have to live with more debates with Andy Burnham and others.”

He said without making peace with this, and allowing levelling up to be delivered locally without overbearing control from Whitehall, the Government risked their own electoral prospects but also something deeper.

“They do need to be aware time is running out already, if you think it’s a five-year term, we’re already one year in and these things take time to take effect and they’re not going to happen overnight, so they’ve got to get moving now.

“But the second thing is it risks creating disillusionment with politics, not just the Conservative Party, because people will think ‘well, we were promised that’.

“I worry as much about disillusionment with politicians, who I think are very important, as I do about whether they are disillusioned with the Conservative Party.”

Lord Bob Kerslake warns failing on levelling up agenda would damage public trust as he urges Government to produce plan