Northern levelling up? It’s in the early stages (7)
I believe the answer is:
nascent
'northern levelling up? it's in the early stages' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'northern levelling up? it's in the' is the wordplay.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'levelling' becomes 'cent' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'up?' says the letters should be written backwards (I've seen 'upped' mean this (in down clue, made to go up)).
'it' becomes 'sa' (old-fashioned abbreviation for sex appeal).
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'sa' in reverse letter order is 'as'.
'n'+'cent'='ncent'
'ncent' going around 'as' is 'NASCENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nascent that I've seen before include "Sent can (anag.)" , "Freshly generated" , "Starting existence" , "awakening" , "Emerging, in the process of being born" .)