'Levelling-up' debate is patronising northern communities – says St Helens MP

But he believes the "levelling up" debate nationally is leaving northern communities "patronised by politicians and commentators alike".

Mr McGinn was speaking during a Commons debate over the Queen’s Speech, the mechanism by which the Government’s proposals for the next 12 months are laid out.

The title of the debate, in which the St Helens North MP spoke, was: “A bright future for the next generation”.

It focused on children, young people, education and future opportunities – with MPs discussing subjects such as regeneration, skills, training and "levelling up".

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In his speech, Mr McGinn laid out some of the challenges that he believes have been brought on by a decade of the the Conservatives being in power, highlighting an increase in child poverty, a growing attainment gap, youth unemployment, and falling apprenticeship places.

But he also questioned some of the language used by politicians during the "levelling up" debate and whether it was registering with people in northern towns such as St Helens.

Mr McGinn told the Commons today: "I think the problem for both of us (Conservatives and Labour), actually, is that the debate we are having and the terms we use have completely passed people who live in those communities by.

"No one in St Helens thinks they live in a wall – red, blue or otherwise – people don't go about their daily lives feeling left behind, they don't understand what levelling-up means – something I suspect they have in common with most Government ministers – and they certainly aren't the homogenous lump and proletariat caricatured.

"Most importantly, actually, they aren't stupid.

"They know that the rhetoric of what the Government says and does doesn't match the reality of their lives – promises not delivered and their lot getting worse, not better, over the last ten years."

Conor McGinn,the St Helens North MP spoke at the debate

The MP spoke of the work he and local political, community and business leaders are doing across St Helens' communities and Liverpool City Region to invest in young people now and plan for the longer-term.

This includes investment in free school meals, support for children’s services, and the local partnership with the English Cities Fund to regenerate the borough.

He said the emphasis locally was to work to ensure a positive start in life for all children and young people.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had told the debate that young people will not need to leave their home town to find a rewarding career under the Government's education reforms.

He said that central to the Government's plans to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, seeking to offer a lifetime skills guarantee for access to education and training.

Mr Williamson told MPs the Government wants to put employers "at the heart of our skills reforms" and enable them to join forces with further education colleges.

Opening day three of the Queen's Speech debate, he said: "We are going to make sure there is a better balance between the skills that local employers want for their workforce and those that are being taught by colleges and other providers, so that young people have a valuable and top quality alternative to universities."

Mr Williamson added: "We want to encourage people to make sure that they stay part of their community.

"Rather than encourage people to leave home to find a rewarding career, we intend to empower them to find fulfilling and rewarding work wherever they live, invigorating communities and driving economic growth up and down the country.

"You do not need to leave your home town in order to succeed."

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price called for the Government to build more homes, saying: "We absolutely must grip this issue of building more homes. I know that is not something that is going to be welcome by everybody on these benches, but I am afraid this is something where we must show responsibility and leadership.

"There are too many young people for whom the ambition of owning their own home seems to be a pipe dream - so we need to properly invest, with imagination, in the ability to deliver housing solutions that they can then respond to."

Labour's Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) accused the Government of "dragging our children down" rather than "levelling up".

She told the Commons: "This gracious speech is simply not good enough. In London the vacuous phrase levelling up means no such thing. We have seen time and time again the Government cutting the funding for our schools to make politically-expedient funding choices elsewhere in the country.

"The full additional costs of the pandemic have not been covered for London schools and now they face a stealth cut in the pupil premium, a cynical change in the calculation date which the Government hoped no-one would notice. This will cost schools in Southwark £1.2 million, and a similar sum in Lambeth.

"It is utterly reprehensible to cut essential funding from the most disadvantaged children wherever they live in the country. That's not levelling up, it's deliberately dragging our children down."