The UK government on Wednesday unveiled its blueprint to “level up” underdeveloped parts of the country, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson battles to retain confidence in his premiership. A new white paper sets out a 10-year plan including shifting powers to England’s local authorities, improving physical and digital connectivity, increasing homeownership, tackling crime, and boosting education, training, and investment across the country. It comes as Johnson faces the prospect of a vote of no-confidence after senior civil servant Sue Gray found “failures of leadership and judgment” by parts of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office in her inquiry into alleged lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street. Johnson adopted the “levelling up” slogan as shorthand for tackling regional inequalities, particularly between former industrial areas and London and the southeast, in the 2019 election which saw the Tories make huge gains in Labour’s previously impregnable “red wall” heartlands. The blueprint, unveiled by levelling up minister …