Given the extended delay and the extensive hype, the Levelling Up White Paper was destined never to meet expectations, but if you account for the constraints and limitations that those responsible are working within you could argue it manages to please most of the people some of the time. 

Those constraints are obvious.  Addressing regional inequalities that have been baked in, and reinforced, for decades, is not possible without long-term commitment, system-wide collaboration, substantial investment and wholesale change to our prevailing economic model.  While there are some strong voices pushing things in the right direction, this government as a whole does not have that appetite.  Secondly, as many have pointed out, and as the White Paper itself acknowledges, the last decade has seen major disinvestment in the institutions and infrastructure that need to be at the heart of the project – we’re levelling up but from further back.