How can devolution contribute to regional growth in England?

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Both main UK-wide political parties are proposing further devolution within England to drive growth, and there is a broad political consensus that an over-centralised England is holding the economy back. But the international evidence shows quite a weak link between devolution and growth, which shows it needs to be delivered well if it is to drive economic change.

This event explored what ‘good’ devolution looks like, the role of private and public investment in delivery and what that means for how governments should take forward the English devolution agenda.

The event began with a short presentation from Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the IfG, on our recent paper on the topic. 

We were joined by an expert panel, including:

• Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire
• Jim McMahon MP, Shadow Minister for English Devolution and Local Government
• Sebastian Payne, Director of Onward
• Sophie White, Sector Head for Regeneration at Aviva Capital Partners

The event was chaired by Thomas Pope, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.

Later in the year, the IfG will commence a series of regional roundtables in Sheffield, Bristol and Norwich looking at the role devolution can play to promote prosperity specifically in those areas.

Follow us on X @ifgevents and join the conversation using #IfGdevolution.

We would like to thank Aviva for kindly supporting this event.