Levelling Up the UK Economy: The Need for Transformative Change

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.

Luke Telford is a Lecturer in Criminal Justice & Social Policy at the University of York, UK. He is a multidisciplinary academic who has published on political economy, politics, working-class culture, labour markets and the COVID-19 pandemic. Luke is the author/co-author of three other books including English Nationalism and its Ghost Towns, as well as Lockdown: Social harm in the COVID-19 era.

Jonathan Wistow is an Associate Professor at Durham University, UK. Jonathan has a background in local government having previously worked in a local authority. He has published work on local government and governance systems, health inequalities, climate change adaptation, complexity theory, social policy and political economy. He is the author/co-author of two other books including Social Policy, Political Economy and the Social Contract.