Governing uneven development: the Northern Powerhouse as a ‘state spatial strategy’

ABSTRACT

Launched in response to widening regional inequality in the UK, the Northern Powerhouse (NPh) initiative is part of a wider international trend towards competitive multi-city regionalism. This paper provides a theoretical and political analysis of the NPh as part of the UK state's efforts to govern and manage uneven regional development. In particular, the paper understands the NPh through the lens of strategic-relational state theory (SRST), seeking to make three contributions to the further spatialization and development of SRST. First, it provides a greater sensitivity to the spatial particularities of state space through an analysis of the NPh as a ‘state spatial strategy’ for the North of England, closely linked to the ‘state spatial project’ of English devolution. Second, it emphasizes the strategic agency of prominent political and business actors working in and through the state. Third, it assesses the temporal development and delivery of the NPh as a strategy in motion, particularly in terms of how it has been affected by changing political agendas and contexts. While the NPh achieved a degree of regional hegemony in 2015–16, it was subsequently undermined by a lack of government commitment and investment following the Brexit vote of 2016.

KEYWORD:

• uneven development
• strategic–relational state theory
• regional inequality
• Northern Powerhouse
• devolution
• England

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to all the interview respondents for sharing their time, experience and views. Thanks to Andy Cumbers, Andy Pike, Mike Coombes, Emma Ormerod, Kean Fan Lim, David Waite and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on this paper. Neil Lee provided helpful advice and feedback. Thanks to Colin Wymer and Vikki Houlden for drawing Figure 1.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.