Levelling Up the UK Economy: The Need for Transformative Change

Description

This book contributes to emerging debates about Levelling Up the UK Economy, considering these alongside the nature of, and trends in, both the political economy and spatial disparities. Drawing on a complex systems framing, the book pulls together a range of evidence to provide insights about the agenda from macro, meso and micro levels of analyses, including utilising qualitative data from a small scoping study with Directors of Regeneration across several ‘left behind’ places and 25 residents of ‘left behind’ Redcar & Cleveland in Teesside.  The book outlines phases in capitalism’s development, particularly the shift from post-war capitalism to a post-industrial and neoliberal society and the implications for spatial inequalities. The 2022 Levelling Up White Paper is analysed alongside a focus on the role of local government relative to the agenda. The book offers an empirical case study of ‘left behind’ Redcar & Cleveland, exposing deindustrialisation, insecure employment, crime, anti-social behaviour and sentiments on a North South divide and Levelling Up. We suggest that only a transformative change in the political economy, including significant and sustained investment at different spatial levels, is likely to achieve the ambition to Level Up. Foreword Acknowledgements Contents About the Authors List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction The Levelling Up Agenda Methodological Note Level Actors System Logic Book Structure References Chapter 2: Capitalism’s Trajectories and Local Spatial Dynamics Introduction Laissez Faire A Capitalist Aberration The Neoliberal Phase Shift Austerity ‘Left behind’ Places Conclusion References Chapter 3: The Levelling Up Agenda Introduction Levelling up: Prior to the White Paper The Levelling up White Paper Systems Reform Capitals Missions and the Policy Programme Conclusion References Chapter 4: Local Government, Governance and Levelling Up Introduction Local Government and Governance Systems: Trajectories of Decline and Fragmentation Local Democracy and Devolution Local Government and Levelling Up Conclusion References Chapter 5: Sentiments from a ‘Left Behind’ Place Introduction Industrialised Security to Instability “Everything is Run Down” Crime and Anti-social Behaviour “We are a Forgotten People” Levelling Up? Conclusion References Chapter 6: Conclusion: Scanning the Future Moving into a Post-Neoliberal World? References