Stoke-on-Trent is in many ways the national litmus test for the Government's levelling-up ambitions.

Before COVID-19 the city was undergoing the most significant transformation in its economic fortunes it has experienced for over 30 years. Having been among the fastest local economies to rebound from the last recession, the city had continued to outstrip swathes of the UK in terms of economic growth, job creation and innovation. We were throwing off the shackles of an imposed external narrative of managed decline to forge a fresh identity as a city punching above its weight, generating wealth from a diverse and growing industrial base.