Moving the House of Lords to the north is a pointless gesture at best – it’ll do nothing to ‘level up’ Britain

The relocation serves to take attention away from the real mission at hand – retribution for the Supreme Court after the prime minister’s outrageous vandalism last year

No member of Boris Johnson’s government is currently permitted to appear on TV, radio or at the dispatch box of the House of Commons without using the phrase “level up” at least five times.

Borrowed from the world of video gaming, as with all political phrases it is designed to be devoid of meaning but it intimates at a promise to make life better in parts of the country that have not been served as well by the economic changes of the last 50 years as London and the southeast.

And now we have had our first taste of what “levelling up” might mean. Johnson has let it be known he is investigating moving the House of Lords to York, permanently.