Powerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’

Neil Lee

doi:10.1080/00343404.2016.1196289

Abstract

ABSTRACTPowerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’. Regional Studies. The Northern Powerhouse is the UK government’s latest attempt to reduce regional disparities. By bringing together the cities of the north into a functional economy, the aim is to create an agglomeration with the scale to counterbalance London. This paper summarizes and critically reviews this agenda. While sympathetic to the basic idea, it argues that the Northern Powerhouse is a vague and problematic concept. It can be understood both as an economic development strategy and as a political brand, giving focus to disparate and often pre-existing policies. It has meant new resources and institutional change, but is geographically fuzzy with insufficient funding to achieve its unclear aims.

Highlights

The UK has large and entrenched spatial disparities
The emergence of the Northern Powerhouse reflects longstanding concerns about the North–South divide and the need for spatial rebalancing, the centralized British state (Colomb & Tomaney, 2014), and research highlighting the economics of agglomeration (e.g., City Growth Commission, 2014; Glaeser, 2012; World Bank, 2009)
This paper is sympathetic to the idea that some sort of targeted attempt is necessary to rebalance the economy: the Northern Powerhouse agenda has certainly led to some new funding for the North

Summary

Introduction

The UK has large and entrenched spatial disparities. The latest attempt to address them is the Northern Powerhouse, a policy agenda led by George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer. This paper is sympathetic to the idea that some sort of targeted attempt is necessary to rebalance the economy: the Northern Powerhouse agenda has certainly led to some new funding for the North.

Results

Conclusion