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Here is today's Northern Agenda: By ROB PARSONS - July 5 2022 In a political universe where Westminster hadn't descended into Lord of the Flies-style anarchy, your Northern Agenda today would likely have focused on the hugely important and potentially explosive issue of whether government would approve a new coal mine for steel production in Cumbria.
An announcement was due today but late last night the man due to make it, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, was sacked by Boris Johnson as he clung on to power, limpet-like and deluded, at 10 Downing Street.
At the start of a morning when Mr Johnson finally accepted the inevitable and resigned, as Tory leader after ministers and MPs made clear his position was untenable, Mr Gove's Levelling Up Department was down to a rump of three Ministers with everyone else having quit.