When communities' secretary Michael Gove was caught in the lift at the BBC this week, en route to a Today programme interview on his cladding plans, it was suggested to me that the whole incident could be used as a metaphor for the Government's levelling up plans – caught at a standstill, unable to move.
As our news analysis points out, the entirety of the Johnson Government's policy on local government has failed to lift off, hampered by COVID, Westminster power struggles and the distraction of Number 10 garden parties.
