Boris Johnson's 'levelling up' agenda amounts to "window-dressing and bungs" while he is failing to deliver long-term change for communities, MPs claim today.
A group of moderate Labour MPs is calling on him to concentrate on tackling the "fundamental weaknesses" in the British economy that drive regional inequality.
The Prime Minister was urged to focus on creating decent well-paid jobs, to support working people through skills training and by backing industry, and invest in quality public services.
In a statement, the MPs said: "This is the real levelling up agenda the Prime Minister should be talking about today, rather than gimmicks and sticking plasters".
They added: "The fact is that too often Conservative promises have amounted to window-dressing and bungs.
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"There has been little effort to deliver long-term change for families and communities.
"No-one would turn down a lick of paint on the high street, but our communities deserve so much more".
Mr Johnson has been criticised for putting takeaway pints and al fresco dining at the heart of his plans - while not doing enough to tackle deep-rooted inequalities.
The PM will give a major speech on his levelling up agenda on Thursday as he attempts to regain the narrative from Covid mixed messages and the football racism row.
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Senior Labour MPs, including Stephen Kinnock, Yvette Cooper and Carolyn Harris have formed a new group 'Renaissance' to help the party re-connect with voters it has lost over the last decade.
They claim Mr Johnson's latest pledges will be "hit by a wall of cynicism" by voters who will struggle to make sense of "meaningless soundbites" after years of underinvestment.
"The PM expects us all to be grateful for promising small amounts of money to fill gaping holes brought about by Conservative failure, as if she should be thanking an arsonist for throwing a solitary bucket of water on a raging fire that he himself started," they write.
And they single out the £4.8bn levelling up fund which has seen Tory areas - including Rishi Sunak's well-heeled constituency - handed money intended for struggling towns.
The MPs argue that Labour’s only route back to government is through re-building support in the constituencies that turned Conservative in 2019. More than 100 of Labour’s 124 target seats for the next general lie outside the major cities.
Ms Cooper said: "Labour has lost support in many of the towns and communities where the party was forged over a century ago, and has too often been seen as a party only for the big cities in recent years. That has to change.
"Our towns aren’t getting a fair deal from the Conservatives and have often been hard hit by Conservative policies over the last ten years. But Labour has much to do to earn people’s support again."
In his speech in the West Midlands, the PM will insist that by addressing inequalities in some parts of the country, he will not be "levelling down" others.
Many Tory MPs fear that Mr Johnson's focus on his new red-wall seats means that investment will be redirected from the traditional - and generally wealthier - Tory heartlands in the South.
But he will say: "Levelling up is not a jam-spreading operation. It’s not robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s not zero sum, it’s win win.”
Labour 'Renaissance" group MPs on how they'd level up their own seats
Stephen Kinnock, Aberavon
The Port Talbot steel works is the beating heart of our economy and community.
We are committed to greening the steel-making process, but steelworkers must not pay the price.
There has to be a fair and just transition that protects jobs and livelihoods, so that we de-carbonise without de-industrialising.
This will require significant UK Government investment, and it is urgent if we are to meet our net zero targets.
Justin Madders, Ellesmere Port and Neston
Our town centre in Ellesmere Port has faced years of decline accelerated by the pandemic.
Levelling up for us would be investment in that town centre making it somewhere we want people to live work and play.
Support from the Government on this would help restore community pride and economic opportunity.
Carolyn Harris, Swansea East
As long as we are denied projects which can attract investment into communities then we’re not levelling up, we’re playing catch-up.
Rail electrification was promised by the Tories but it stopped in Cardiff and never came to Swansea.
The tidal lagoon power plant would be a global first and would be revolutionary not only for Wales but for the world, and it’s an opportunity that we keep getting denied.
Ruth Smeeth, Stoke-on-Trent North (2015-19)
The Potteries need genuine investment in ceramics as a twenty-first century material.
We’re famous for our pots and always will be.
But it order to guarantee the next generation of jobs we need investment to make sure that high tech ceramics form the base of our revival.
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