Taking back control? Devolution, regional inequalities, and 20 years of IPPR North

This year we celebrate 20 years of IPPR North. For two decades IPPR North has championed England’s regions, laid down the evidence for regional growth and flown the flag for devolution. Our mission – to reduce place-based inequality and enable people in our regions to thrive – is even more critical now than in our founding year.

Since IPPR North’s inception, our country and our regions have faced mountains to climb – whether the credit crunch, austerity, Brexit or the pandemic – and many places are still reeling from the effects. We know that obstructing the progress of our regions holds back our economy, our society and our people.

Communities across England feel unheard and let down by the Westminster system of centralised government. This risks increasing apathy among voters or, instead, pushing them to the extremes of politics. With conventional electoral coalitions breaking down it is clear the status quo of centralised power, held by a detached few, no longer works.

That’s why we’re proud of IPPR North’s role over the past 20 years in the design and roll out of devolution and the mayoral model, the development of pan-northern institutions and the development of the North as a net zero powerhouse, among many other achievements.

Moving power to our regions and our communities is still a work in progress and we must go further to change our imbalances in wealth, power and opportunity. That is why in this IPPR North birthday issue of Progressive Review we’ve brought together leading thinkers on devolution and our regional divides to both look back at the policy developments and lessons of the past two decades and look ahead to what the future might hold for the North and our regions.

Mark Sandford looks at how English regional devolution has evolved over the last two decades through a process of incrementalism. He argues that delivering devolution to England’s localities via a series of ‘deals’ has strengthened the progress of local decision-making but in order to deepen and entrench this change, a more systematic approach to English devolution may be required.

John Tomaney and Andy Pike chart the devolution journey in the North East of England, looking at both the politics and prospects in the Tees Valley combined authority and the newly created North East combined authority.

Georgina Blakeley and Brendan Evans explore the role of metro mayors within English devolution. Drawing on their extensive work in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region, they consider the enablers and constraints of metro mayors, their role in combined authority accountability, and consider the future of the metro mayoral model.

Nick Gray and Danny Dickinson look at the levelling up agenda and consider how it has progressed over the course of the last five years. Looking ahead to a potential change of government, they suggest that in order to reclaim the agenda progressives must offer a solid policy and investment programme as well as a clear message on the roles of different places in the spatial economy and the purpose of different public investments.

Katy Shaw considers the place of culture within the devolution agenda. She makes the case that cultural devolution has the potential to catalyse the relocation of national cultural organisations to the regions and can be done so in a way that recognises regional cultural priorities.

Ryan Swift brings together reflections from former IPPR North directors Ed Cox, Sarah Longlands, Arianna Giovannini, and current director, Zoë Billingham, who consider the evolution of politics and policy in the North over the past 20 years, the achievements of IPPR North, and the future opportunities for the north of England in the coming years.

Steph Coulter and Mike Kenny explore the long history of the devolution debate in the North East of England up to the creation of the new North East Combined Authority. Building on this, they consider the lessons that the North East can offer for the future of English devolution, particularly when it comes to geography, representation, and governance.

Richard Johnson offers a sceptical view on the merits of devolution. He argues that devolution makes it harder to pass nationally transformative social policy, empowers local vested interests at the expense of the greater good, facilitates a race-to-the-bottom, entrenches inequality, encourages tribal gesture politics, and increases the power of the judiciary.

Jessica Studdert critiques the centralised, deals-based approach that has been a feature of English devolution in recent years. She makes the case for a bolder approach to devolution which could overcome many of the issues with the current model. This approach, she argues, should be rooted in the principles of subsidiarity, inclusivity and participation.

Jack Newman, Rachael McClatchey, Geoff Bates, and Sarah Ayres consider the role that devolved government can play in tackling geographic health inequalities. They make the case that national, devolved, and local governments need to work together to understand where the mechanisms of change lie, supporting each other – and non-state actors – to embed public health in all major policy decisions.

Ryan Swift explores the place of the north of England and ideas of ‘northernness’ within the cultural and political imagination. He argues that deep-rooted and persistent notions of northern distinction and a North-South divide provide the foundations upon which the North as a whole can be invoked and that, as a result, it is uniquely salient as a region within our politics.

Read the latest edition of Progressive Review here

Issue contents:

• Editorial / Zoë Billingham, Ryan Swift, Lucy Mort, Ellie Kearns,
  Joseph Evans and Joshua Emden
• Incrementalism or jurisdictional design? / Mark Sandford
• A long and winding road / John Tomaney and Andy Pike
• English metro-mayors / Georgina Blakeley and Brendan Evans
• Levelling up / Nick Gray and Danny Dickinson
• Blazing a trail / Katy Shaw
• Policy in the north of England – past, present and future / Ryan Swift
• Devolution in the North East / Steph Coulter and Michael Kenny
• The limits of devolution for the left / Richard Johnson
• Subsidiarity, inclusivity and participation / Jessica Studdert
• Tackling health inequalities / Jack Newman, Rachael McClatchey, Geoff Bates
  and Sarah Ayres
• “As old as the hills” / Ryan Swift