Levelling up policies and the failure to learn

Abstract

UK policy targeting regional economic disparities has been characterised by frequent reversals and announcements, with multiple, uncoordinated public bodies, departments and levels of government responsible for delivery. Prior ‘place-blind' national policies have given way recently to ‘place-based' approaches, with a convergence between industrial and spatial policies. Yet a consequence of inconsistency and poor co-ordination is that the UK policy framework lacks adequate feedback mechanisms from local outcomes to the national policy process; there is a failure to learn. More effective policies to address spatial inequalities require institutional reform embedding evaluation and learning mechanisms into subsequent policy analysis and implementation. Other advanced economies offer institutional examples that could be feasibly implemented in the UK.