THE Tories’ levelling-up plans are a “blizzard of rehashed announcements with no new money,” Labour and trade unions charged today.

The strategy, unveiled in the Commons by Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove, is supposed to improve education, broadband and transport nationwide by 2030.

Mr Gove claimed it would “shift both money and power into the hands of working people,” but its many critics slammed the proposals as lacking sufficient funding and containing little fresh thinking.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson put a commitment to spread wealth and prosperity to every region across Britain at the heart of the Conservatives’ 2019 general election manifesto.

But the plans are now part of the PM’s attempt to regain control of the political agenda as the ongoing “partygate” scandal sees opposition leaders and Tory MPs demand his resignation. 

Mr Gove’s strategy, unveiled in a white paper, would bring all existing levelling-up initiatives together into 12 “national missions.”

Education spending to eliminate illiteracy and innumeracy should be refocused on disadvantaged parts of the country, he said, while the rest of the country’s public transport must be brought closer to London standards. 

Derelict urban sites in 20 towns and cities are set to be targeted for regeneration, while Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and the Glasgow City region would get more research and development cash.

Additionally, most households should get access to faster 5G broadband and every English region can access “London-style” powers and a regional mayor if they want it. 

Many of the proposals apply to England only, but ministers will work with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to include them, Mr Gove suggested. 

The majority are existing government policies with budgets already allocated, but they will now be enshrined in law, he claimed.  

But his Labour counterpart Lisa Nandy said the policies were “so old they were actually originally made by Gordon Brown” as prime minister back in 2008. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer blasted the “repackaged, rehashed and recycled” announcements as “yet another sign the Conservatives are out of ideas and energy.”

“A Labour government would be focused on enabling communities to thrive, providing security and prosperity for all,” he said.

Slamming the “wish list,” the party’s Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said: “Unless this plan delivers on eradicating poverty, shrinks grotesque inequalities, enables everyone to live dignified, flourishing lives and secures the redistribution of wealth, it will have failed.”

Scottish Greens economy spokesperson Maggie Chapman said the plans are a “joke” as they will “do nothing to redistribute wealth or save the planet.”

The scheme is “not a serious plan for levelling up at work,” the TUC said, with general secretary Frances O’Grady stressing that “working families need action now to improve jobs and boost pay packets” as the cost of living skyrockets.

“Millions will struggle on, on low wages, and with poor health and prospects” without proper action, she warned.

The Sutton Trust charity praised the government’s “rightfully ambitious” aspirations, but National Education Union co-leader Dr Mary Bousted said Tory ministers have “neither the right ideas nor the capability” to put them into practice.

The union echoed warnings from NASUWT head Dr Patrick Roach that the investment failed to make up for a decade of the government’s own austerity cuts to schools.

Transport unions highlighted that cuts to buses and trains were incompatible with promoting regional equalities. 

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Sadly, the Tories are also now pushing deep cuts to our railways which will deepen inequality. So much for levelling up.”

RMT leader Mick Lynch added: “We don’t need yet another announcement, we need action that delivers affordable, regular and reliable public transport.”