A renewed focus on ‘skills, skills, skills’ may be key to unlocking the levelling up agenda, at least according to the Chancellor`s newly announced budget. Rishi Sunak has pledged a £3.8 billion investment in skills, a considerable sum aimed at bolstering the UK`s creaky adult education sector.

Rishi Sunak`s pledge last week to invest an extra £3.8 billion in skills and education was a reassuring concrete step forward for those concerned that talk of ‘skills revolution’ might be just that.

Earlier this month at the Conservative Party Conference, the Lifelong Education Commission – on which I serve as an independent commissioner – launched its first report into the British education system.

As a region, London is a bit like Jekyll and Hyde and, unfortunately, we tend to hear less about the large, poor city behind the rich, productive one.