| NANDY | The current shadow secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (4,5) |
| LISA | The current shadow secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (4,5) |
| GOVE | Michael, politician who served as housing and communities secretary under Rishi Sunak (4) |
| EVENING | Late in the day for levelling up? (7) |
| STRICKLES | Tools formerly used by farmers to whet scythes during harvests; or, pieces of wood for levelling the tops of heaped measures of grain (9) |
| PARENTING | Father making payments for housing and bringing up the kids (9) |
| BENCARSON | SURGEON who's the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
| SANDPAPER | Means of levelling up appears to include origins of New Deal |
| BULLDOZER | Machine for levelling and clearing (9) |
| LAMMY | David __ MP, Shadow Secretary of State for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs (5) |
| LLANDUDNO | Reflecting on dreary housing and coastal town |
| DUNWOODY | Gwyneth ___, Shadow Secretary of State for Health from 1980-83 who died in 2008 (8) |
| TEDDYTAYLOR | Eurosceptic MP who was shadow secretary of state for Scotland under Margaret Thatcher (5,6) |
| MEETUP | Social media platform founded in 2002 for hosting and organising gatherings and events for people and communities of similar interests |
| STRICKLE | Name, rhyming with a word for a drip or a type of chutney, for a rod for levelling a heaped measure of grain; or, a tool for whetting a scythe (8) |
| GREENOCK | One of seven Scottish towns to receive levelling-up funding (8) |
| DUMFRIES | One of seven Scottish towns to receive levelling-up funding (8) |
| NASCENT | Northern levelling up? It’s in the early stages |
| URBAN | Secretary of Housing and ___ Development |
| BANDYWALLOP | By housing and beer, find town dreamed of in outback |
