Across the north of England, in 2019's' general election, many Labour constituencies were won by the Conservatives. As well as a promise to 'get Brexit done', then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to 'level up' deprived areas of the country with money from central government. Five years on, have the Conservatives done enough to convince voters to stick with them?
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00:00We are going to unite and level up, unite and level up,
00:04bringing together the whole of this incredible United Kingdom.
00:08The day he was elected in 2019, one of Boris Johnson's key pledges
00:13was to level up poorer parts of the UK.
00:16Keithley, in the north of England, is one of the places that has received
00:20central government money to help revive the ailing local economy.
00:25Seeking re-election, the town's MP is proud of his record.
00:30In Keithley, we've been incredibly fortunate after a huge amount of campaigning
00:34for me as the Conservative MP over the last four and a half years
00:39to secure over £80 million of investment that is being ring-fenced for Keithley,
00:44that we are delivering a new skills hub, a new manufacturing, engineering and tech hub,
00:48a new six-form college.
00:50One organisation that has benefited is Keithley Creative, a local arts charity.
00:57We worked very hard to build the case that
01:01there should be money spent on arts provision in the town.
01:06Nearly €5 million of levelling up funds is helping them build a new permanent home,
01:12which they hope to move into in 2026.
01:15And in a way, this fund and being able to access it has been
01:20for a small arts charity like ourselves, it's like a one-stop shop.
01:25It's like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
01:28While projects like this are eye-catching,
01:31critics say that the amounts spent on such schemes don't make up for the huge budget cuts
01:36that local government has suffered since the Conservatives came into power in 2010.
01:42With the cost of living also rising, life has been harder than ever for many in Keithley.
01:50Bills are at the top, do you know what I mean?
01:53You're left with nothing at the end of the month.
01:55It's one of the big issues in this country, isn't it?
01:58People in poverty at the moment, it shouldn't be like this in the UK.
02:03The Salvation Army, who run a food bank in Keithley,
02:07say the cost of living crisis is a major issue here.
02:11They are struggling with the basic needs of life and as a local to Keithley,
02:19that is very evident in the school meals, in the people coming through food banks,
02:25even the people asking for clothes and things as practical as house utensils.
02:31So more need is becoming evident, there's no doubt about it.
02:36Local businesses have also been hit.
02:39This hair salon has had to move out of its prime high street location due to a massive rent hike.
02:47It was really heartbreaking.
02:50Family had worked there, friends that became family worked there
02:54and it's been a constant in all my life and to not have it there is really, really sad.
03:02John Grogan used to be the Labour Party MP here before the Conservatives won in 2019.
03:09He's hoping to be re-elected and is going door to door talking to voters.
03:14Thank you, thanks very much indeed, thank you, thank you.
03:17Number one issue is poverty and all that goes with it and the cost of living
03:22and why I want to be a Labour MP is that over, if we had five years,
03:26ten years in power, I'd like to see that gap go down a bit.
03:30Keithley is one of many northern constituencies that turned Conservative in 2019,
03:36partly because of levelling up promises.
03:39With some voters feeling these promises haven't been kept,
03:42polls suggest many seats like this could revert to Labour in July 4th's general election.