A letter to Boris Johnson from the Northern Research Group – a newly-launched alliance of Tory MPs led by ex-Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry – outlines the group‘s demands, which include a tailored economic recovery plan for the north.

Mr Berry says that the virus could widen the North-South divide and ‚send the North into reverse‘. His group is now calling for Mr Johnson to ‚level-up the North‘ – something the PM claimed he would do following sweeping Conservative gains in the region in the General Election.