Levelling Up?

Abstract

‘Levelling up’ is the new UK government mantra to describe its ambitions for addressing longstanding local and regional inequalities and, especially, for tackling the problems of ‘left-behind’ places. This article examines the thinking behind this slogan and the associated policy agenda. We identify a danger of misdiagnosis leading to policies that do little to ameliorate conditions in the places that most need help. The government’s agenda appears, so far, to be driven by electoral calculation rather than a real engagement with tackling deep inequalities.