EACH EDITION WE ASK LEADING POLITICAL FIGURES, OF ALL PARTIES, TO GIVE US THEIR OWN OPINION ON THE LEVELLING UP AGENDA. WHAT LEVELLING-UP MEANS TO ME.
GUY
OPPERMAN MP:
This edition we are joined by Guy Opperman MP, the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion. Guy has been a Conservative MP since 2010 and was appointed to Government in 2017. Guy has a particular interest in the role investors and pension funds can take in the wider ESG agenda. Here he gives us his take on levelling up: When I stood for election in 2010, there was only one Conservative MP in the whole of the North East. Whilst much of the Conservative Party’s traditional support base was in the South and Midlands, I knew that the route to a Conservative majority would run through the North of England. So whilst most people were settling down to watch the Olympics, in 2012, I decided to make it my mission to find out exactly what people want from their politicians – whether that be local councillors, their MP, or the government. I walked from Sheffield to Scotland – right through what is now the so-called red wall – and spoke to hundreds of people in churches, mosques, shops, pubs, B&B’s and at community events across the country. The message was loud and clear, but it was not at all that different to the kind of things I would hear at my constituency surgeries week in, week out. People wanted to see investment in their local community, safer streets, more money for our schools, and better opportunities for our young people. Put simply, they wanted to make their local community an even better place to live; they wanted to see levelling up.
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