Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda must include general practice. People living in socioeconomically deprived areas have the greatest health needs, but general practice is underfunded and ‘under-doctored’ in areas of high deprivation. The persistence of the inverse care law in general practice is a consequence of policies failing to allocate resource according to need. Government has an opportunity within the levelling up agenda to address this. Levelling up general practice must include updating the formula used to divide funding between practices. The current formula underestimates need associated with deprivation, contributing to inequitable funding across general practice. Current policies to reform general practice focus on developing primary care networks (PCNs) and expanding the use of digital technology. This includes a large expansion of the primary care workforce. But there are no mechanisms in place to ensure these staff are equitably distributed. Levelling up general practice requires action on funding and staff, otherwise health inequalities may widen further.