“Levelling-up” was one of the key Conservative manifesto pledges at the last election, and now it even has its own government department and minister, but what exactly does it mean? A new IFG paper takes a look what the Government has been saying on the subject, and the spending promises made so far. Plus, next week sees the expiration of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, but how much pressure is chancellor Rishi Sunak under? And what should we expect from Keir Starmer’s first conference as Labour leader? The I’s deputy political editor Arj Singh joins us on today’s show. “Experts compare levelling-up to the difference between East and West Germany, which took decades” - Arj Singh “The Government are gearing up for the next election to be fought on levelling-up” - Cath Haddon “A big question is how much are we going to level-up politically with local government and city mayors?” - Cath Haddon “The problem for the Government is that they made a big increase in benefits, they now look like they’re trying to make a big cut” - Nick Timmins “This Universal Credit cut hits the areas the Government wants to level-up hardest” - Arj Singh “Keir Starmer does need to put some meat on the bones of his offer or the public will stop listening to him” - Arj Singh “Angela Rayner is positioning herself to take advantage of any slip ups from Starmer” - Arj Singh Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon, Eleanor Shearer and Nick Timmins. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices