LEVELLING up is a “philosophy” that will unlock the “genius and talent” of the North-East, Boris Johnson said on a visit to the region at the weekend.

He predicted: “I think Teesside and the whole area is going to be one of the great opportunity areas of this country, if not all of Europe.”

But he refused to be drawn on whether Rishi Sunak was likely to put his money where his mouth is in March’s Budget and announce concrete projects, like the creation of a freeport or the relocation of Treasury jobs, which would assist the region’s levelling up.

He said: “I am gagged on that subject by the Chancellor, but all will be made clear.”

However, he did give perhaps his most in-depth explanation of the policy that helped win over areas of the North-East at the last election which had felt forgotten.

He said: “Levelling up, for me, is recognising that for 40 years or more, probably longer, the Treasury of the UK has basically thought that the great wealth creating sectors of the UK were in London and the south-east and I think that is a profound misreading of the UK economy and the way the UK can be.

“I think our country has got genius and talent evenly distributed throughout it and the objective of levelling up is to unlock that everywhere. It’s as simple as that. It means giving everybody great infrastructure, skills and high technology.”

He said full fibre broadband was crucial, as was improvements in road and rail infrastructure, and that the £3,000 lifetime skills guarantee would help people retrain for post-pandemic jobs.

“Levelling up is basically a philosophy that thinks there is potential everywhere and it’s time that he was unleashed,” he said while visiting the QuantuMDx firm in a former nightclub in central Newcastle which has developed a revolutionary rapid and portable Covid testing system.

He concluded: “This is the place where the Industrial Revolution began up here, the great breakthroughs, the Stockton & Darlington Railway, and it is happening again. This testing plant we are in did not exist nine months ago. This world beating piece of technology is made in a former Newcastle nightclub – talk about moving from one sector to another.

“It is absolutely incredible to see this happening, and that is what we are trying to do. I believe in it very, very strongly.”