Michael Gove denies south-east favoured by levelling up funds

The levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, has denied that the south-east is getting an unfair proportion of money aimed at tackling inequality in the UK.

On a media round on Thursday morning, he repeatedly denied that the latest announcement of 2.1bn for 100 projects was a tilt away from funding the north of England.

Labour analysis shows that London will receive more funds than both Yorkshire and the north-east. Levelling up has previously been trumpeted as a programme to break down the wealth gap between north and south, but the south-east is the second biggest recipient of the latest cash, allocated 210m, nearly twice as much as the north-east.

Gove told Times Radio: Its simply untrue that the levelling up fund is concentrated disproportionately on London and the south-east.

He added: If you look per capita at the amount were spending, the biggest winners are those in the north-west and of course, yes there is some spending in London and the south-east but there are some areas of deprivation in London and the south-east but its overwhelmingly the case that the areas that benefit the most are the north-west, the north-east and the east Midlands.