Levelling up: what is it and will it work? In conversation with Neil O'Brien and Sebastian Payne

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Boris Johnson has set 'levelling up' the UK as the mission for his government, but few in Whitehall or the country can explain exactly what it is, how it will be implemented and what success looks like.

Tackling regional inequalities lies at the heart of the Conservative Party's re-election hopes, but relies on the implementation of a complex series of policies across national and local government – so does the UK have the will and the money to see it through?

Following the release of the government's levelling up white paper, the Institute for Government welcomed Neil O'Brien, the minister for levelling up, to explore levelling up with Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor of the Financial Times and author of Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England.

The pair were in conversation with IfG director Bronwen Maddox, discussing Sebastian Payne's road trip through parts of England that voted Conservative for the first time in living memory and Neil O'Brien's work on producing the white paper and defining the policies that are the core mission of this government.