Boris Johnson in Scotland: where is the PM visiting today on UK levelling up tour 2022 and what are his goals?

Boris Johnson is leaving Westminster this week to focus on his levelling up policy, as he battles to survive the partygate scandal.

The prime minister insists he is “getting on with the job” while facing questions from police investigating alleged lockdown breaches.

The trip comes in the seven days Mr Johnson has to avoid a fine by answering a legal questionnaire from Scotland Yard officers investigating whether he broke his own Covid laws.

So, where is he expected to visit - and what are the prime minister’s goals?

Which areas of Great Britain is Boris Johnson visiting on his ‘levelling up’ tour?

No 10 said Boris Johnson will start the week with a visit to Scotland on 14 February, as he is expected to tout his shake-up of Downing Street staff.

Edinburgh and Fife will be first stops on his list as he plans to meet 800 workers using advanced manufacturing technologies.

Mr Johnson will also use the trip to meet with apprentices who are developing a range of skills from cyber to mechanical and electrical engineering.

Following the publication of the electives recovery plan earlier this week, he’s then set to head on to an oncology centre tackling Covid backlogs in the North West of England.

The recovery plan sets out how the NHS will address unprecedented waiting lists caused by the pandemic, while redesigning how services are delivered to improve care for the long term.

Boris Johnson will then travel to Europe later this week as part of intensive diplomatic efforts to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin “back from the brink” of war in Ukraine.

What are the prime minister’s goals?

Mr Johnson said: “I’m getting out of London this week and taking a simple message with me – this government is getting on with the job of uniting and levelling up the country.

“Access to good healthcare, a good education, skilled work, reliable transport – none of this should depend on where you live.

“We’re changing the rules of the game to put fairness back at the heart of the system and focusing on the priorities that really matter to people.

“This is our mission and we’re getting on with delivering it.”

Travelling north of the border will present its own challenges, with his ally Jacob Rees-Mogg having accused Douglas Ross of being “lightweight” after the Scottish Tory leader called for Mr Johnson’s resignation.

What is the latest in the Scotland Yard probe?

The calls for the Prime Minister to go will only grow louder and more widespread if he cannot convince police he was not in breach of regulations at up to six events.

As he employs the help of personal lawyers, the Telegraph cited Mr Johnson’s allies in reporting he plans to argue he was working in his official Downing Street flat on the night of the alleged “Abba party” in November 2020.

The Times said that even if he is fined he will not resign, in a move that would be likely to trigger Tory MPs to force a vote of confidence in his leadership.

Scotland Yard says the questionnaires ask for an “account and explanation of the recipient’s participation in an event” and have “formal legal status and must be answered truthfully”.

Fifteen Tory MPs have publicly called for Mr Johnson to quit, while more are thought to have privately written to the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories calling for a no-confidence vote.

More are poised to do so if the prime minister is found to have broken his own coronavirus laws, or further damaging details emerge from the Sue Gray inquiry.

He will face a vote of no confidence if 54 Conservative MPs write to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, and would be ousted if more than half of his MPs subsequently voted against him.

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