A teacher awarded an MBE for delivering thousands of school meals to desperate families during lockdown warns he has seen no sign of levelling up in his area.
Zane Powles, 49, walked more than 900 miles to hand out 15,000 meals, help kids with homework and counsel distressed parents.
The assistant head at Western Primary School, Grimsby, Lincs, said: “I have not seen any change at all apart from people saying the phrase 'We’re levelling up’.
“HS2 is not happening now. It feels like all the money is going down south as always.”
The former Grenadier Guard said he feared for families left struggling due to the £20-a-week Universal Credit cut back.
He said: “Money needs to go to these families. There are families who live in houses with no carpets and no wallpaper on the wall.
“They do the very best they can for the kids based on the money they have and the skills they have.
“Some things take a back seat such as the house decorations.
“All the money they get they spend on the essentials, like power and food.”
Expensive public transport is the only way some people have of getting around, he said.
He added: “In London, you have to wait five minutes for a Tube but here you have to wait three days for a bus.
"If you get [to Louth] on Saturday the next one [back] is Monday. I am not joking. I think it is £10 per adult.
“People in the north know that levelling up is not going to happen, it’s just a soundbite and that’s all it’s only going to ever be.”
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