The Implications of Brexit for UK and EU Regional Competitiveness

Thissen, Mark; Oort, Frank van; McCann, Philip; Husby, Trond

doi:10.1080/00130095.2020.1820862

Cited by 33 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Deprivation, therefore, is relevant for geographic inequalities and the levelling-up agenda, given that there is a positive correlation between income inequality, which is geographically disparate, and relative income poverty in the UK (McKnight, Duque, M, & Rucci, 2017). Compounded with this is the argument that the trade and competitiveness implications of Brexit will widen UK inter-regional inequalities but this will also be the case at the intra-regional level, because the weaker areas within broad regions generally face more severe competitiveness impacts than the more prosperous core areas within those same regions (Thissen, van Oort, McCann, Ortega-Argilés, & Husby, 2020).…”

Section: Strategic Fuzziness and Network Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing ‘levelling-up’ in the UK: challenges and prospects

Connolly

Pyper

Zwet

2021

Contemporary Social Science

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Following the Conservative Party's victory in the 2019 UK General Election, and its success in achieving significant electoral gains across traditional Labour Party 'red' areas in the north of England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed not to let down the new Conservative voters and pledged that his government would address longstanding regional inequalities in the UK. Consequently, 'levelling up' became part of the public policy lexicon, and, in March 2021, the government published its Levelling Up Fund prospectus. The concept of levelling up enjoys widespread political support, has featured in important policy initiatives beyond the UK, and has been the subject of considerable theorising. This article considers how social scientists might evaluate the success or otherwise of the UK government's levelling-up agenda. The article suggests that any evaluation of this agenda requires the need to take into account aspects of network complexity, the resource allocation arrangements attached to the policy, and what the policy signifies in terms of governance leadership in the context of delivering public value. The article concludes that the UK government's plans risk falling short of delivering a sustained reform programme to reduce area-based inequalities.

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Section: Strategic Fuzziness and Network Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing ‘levelling-up’ in the UK: challenges and prospects

Connolly

Pyper

Zwet

2021

Contemporary Social Science

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“…Yet the populists they voted for have no solutions for the problems faced by these regions and in many cases are offering policies that will deepen and entrench regional divides. The example of Brexit is a good case here: voters in declining regions were more likely to vote to leave the European Union ( Lee et al, 2018 ), yet the best academic evidence suggests that this will worsen regional disparities ( Thissen et al, 2020 ). Even if the current wave of populism subsides, these dynamics are not yet over.…”

Section: The Politics Of Inclusive Growth and The Scope For Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion

Evenhuis

Lee

Martin

et al. 2021

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society

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The global financial crisis of just over a decade ago exposed longer-term systemic problems in global capitalism of which two of the most prominent are the slowdown in the underlying trend rate of productivity growth, alongside a rise in economic and spatial inequalities in many advanced economies. The Covid-19 pandemic looks set to further amplify these problems. This Editorial begins by discussing the scale of the productivity slowdown and of the widening inequalities that have emerged, particularly with regard to their spatial dimension: that is how the uneven and slow development of productivity and rise in inequalities have played out across and within regions and cities. It then briefly considers underlying factors that lie behind these trends, including financialisation / financial globalization, the diminishing role of organised labour, segmentation of the labour market favouring workers who play a key role in financialisation, together with the increasing polarisation within societies according to skill and, crucially, the impact of changing industrial composition particularly as it relates to the rise of the high-tech sectors. The Editorial then examines in what ways the slowdown of productivity and widening of economic and spatial inequalities, may be interrelated, and questions the notion of any efficiency-equity trade-off. Lastly, it considers whether the ‘inclusive growth’ agenda can potentially reconcile the two ambitions of improving productivity performance and lessening inequalities, reflecting on what inclusive growth could mean, and what it could imply in terms of policy. Thus far, it appears that an inclusive growth agenda has only gained some traction at the subnational level, which seems to reflect – at least in part – attempts by cities and regions to address gaps in policy left by national governments.

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“…Even without Covid-19, Brexit was almost certainly going to widen the gaps between the more and less prosperous UK regions. The UK's weaker regions are more adversely exposed to Brexit in terms of the trade-related effects on their local GDP and wage incomes (Chen et al, 2018;Los et al, 2017) and their competitiveness (Thissen et al, 2021). Indeed, there are now more than a dozen different pieces of analysis that come to similar conclusions, including the UK government's own analyses (Billing et al, 2019;HMG, 2018).…”

Section: Current Challenges: the Regional Implications Of Brexit And Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the economics shocks associated with Brexit, many of which will be slow-burning and long-lasting (McCann, 2020c), are also greater on the poorer parts of each region relative to the more prosperous parts of each region. In other words, Brexit will lead to both increased inter-and intra-regional disparities (Thissen et al, 2021), and as such will work against Levelling Up on every level.…”

Section: Current Challenges: the Regional Implications Of Brexit And Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rebalancing UK regional and industrial policy post-Brexit and post-Covid-19: lessons learned and priorities for the future

2021

Self Cite

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In this paper, we examine the challenges and opportunities facing the UK's industrial and regional policy in the context of the policy decisions made over recent decades. We argue that the overly centralized and sectoral logic of the UK governance systems has led to a lack of clarity in thinking through place-based issues. This, in turn, has resulted in policy ambiguity, confusion and contradictions, and successfully moving industrial policy and regional policy forward post-Brexit can only take place if conceptual and operational clarity is brought to these matters.

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The Implications of Brexit for UK and EU Regional Competitiveness

Abstract: Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Cited by 33 publications

References 20 publications

Governing ‘levelling-up’ in the UK: challenges and prospects

Governing ‘levelling-up’ in the UK: challenges and prospects

Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion

Rebalancing UK regional and industrial policy post-Brexit and post-Covid-19: lessons learned and priorities for the future

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