There is still something of a definition deficit at the heart of the levelling up policy a year on from the white paper, and long after it featured in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.

The complexities of the UK's productivity growth struggles do not sit well alongside any easy explanations of what levelling up should look like, or a neat package for delivery.  But the launch fanfare accompanying Levelling Up the United Kingdom last spring was bullish about the aims.