Working to make government more effective

Working to make government more effective

South Shields high street

Regional economic policy

We assess the government’s approach to reducing regional inequalities, and how it can learn from previous (mostly unsuccessful) attempts.

Most governments in the UK in the past 30 years have looked to reduce regional economic inequality, which is high in the UK compared with other comparable countries. The Conservative levelling up agenda was a high-profile example, but this followed previous efforts including the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and Michael Heseltine’s agenda in the early 1990s. However, governments have persistently struggled to make headway, running into familiar problems, including difficulties working across departments and with local government.

In this programme of work, we assess how the government is approaching reducing regional inequalities, and how it can learn from past failures. We provide recommendations for how the government can do this successfully. This has included a large body of work on the levelling up agenda.

We will also assess this Labour government’s approach to reducing regional inequalities as it takes shape.

Our recent analysis

Making good regional policy

What policies will drive economic levelling up?

15 JUL 2022 Insight paper

Levelling up and skills policy

This insight reviews the evidence on what skills policies are likely to contribute to levelling up by increasing productivity in places outside of Lon

15 JUL 2022 Insight paper

Levelling up and infrastructure policy

A review on what infrastructure policies are likely to contribute to levelling up by increasing productivity in places outside the South East.

15 JUL 2022 Insight paper

Levelling up and innovation

A review on what innovation policies are likely to contribute to levelling up by increasing productivity in places outside of London and South East.

English devolution and levelling up

Our regional economic policy team