Hunt redefines ‘levelling up’ with focus on Cambridge, Canary Wharf and Surrey

Critics say extra funding to key battleground constituencies proves government ‘happy to ignore regional inequality’

The phrase “levelling up” may once have conjured a vision of northern towns and cities scarred by deindustrialisation – but Jeremy Hunt’s budget suggested the government’s definition now stretches to Buckinghamshire, Canary Wharf and Cambridge.

In the section of his speech on “historic underinvestment in our nations and regions”, Hunt hailed new devolution deals for Surrey and Buckinghamshire.