This week the government’s long-awaited levelling up white paper was published. There were positive plans to create regional mayors and legally binding ​‘missions’ to lift living standards. But its 330 pages were mostly filled with recycled policy focussing too much on infrastructure and not enough on people. That’s where our report comes in. Launched on the same day, Closing the Divide calls for major policy shifts that would truly level up the country – with a focus on empowering mayors, boosting incomes and the everyday economy, supporting small businesses, and investing in green jobs.

We’ve also published a proposal for universal credit auto-enrolment, new analysis on the unequal impacts of the energy price cap, and work showing the £62bn climate cost of planned UK airport expansions.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive, NEF