Britain’s left behind towns sent two seismic shockwaves through the political consensus in recent years. First, when many voted to leave the EU. Second when the so called ‘Red Wall’ of Labour seats crumbled at the 2019 General Election.
These changes sparked debate about how the Government should support these so-called ‘forgotten’ towns to reverse decades of decline.
Some argue that the Brexit vote and fall of the Red Wall was the result of people in towns registering unhappiness at the perceived favouring of cities by policy makers. This is an unhelpful argument that benefits neither towns nor cities, and risks fuelling a culture war between the two.
The reality is that towns are not islands, their fortunes are connected both to the national economy and also to nearby cities. In fact many towns, particularly those in the South East, perform very well economically.
People living in towns close to cities have better employment outcomes than those in rural areas. They benefit from both jobs in the city and those created in the town itself due to its proximity to the city.
But this is only part of the picture. Employment outcomes in towns surrounding economically weaker cities such as Liverpool, Swansea and Newport are far worse than in towns surrounding more prosperous cities such as London or Bristol.
Any economic policy that aims to support towns without considering how their closest cities are performing is doomed to fail.
However, successful cities do not automatically suck jobs and investment away from towns. Towns close to highly productive cities are better at attracting high-skilled business investment, jobs and firms, and they have lower employment rates.
In contrast, towns close to less successful cities have higher unemployment rates and lower economic outcomes. Therefore, the economic success of Britain’s cities is closely linked to the success of the whole country.
The economic prospects of towns and cities around the UK are inseparable. Our work looks at the 63 largest cities and towns in the UK, while shedding new light on how the success of cities affects the prosperity of towns that surround them.
If politicians want to make Britain a more prosperous and productive place to live then improving the economic performance of cities needs to be central to the next government’s plan.
When the UK goes to the polls on 12 December, how much difference will where people live make to how likely they are to vote? Paul Swinney looks at which towns and cities had the highest and lowest turnouts in 2017.
Once the coronavirus crisis has passed, Keir Starmer has the task of reshaping the party. A change in how it views cities and towns is vital.
The political imperative for investing in the North and Midlands is clear from last month’s election. But the Government must work with economic realities if it is to deliver for the voters who delivered its majority.
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There’s much to be achieved in the Red Wall if policy focuses on skills and health outcomes, but attracting high skilled jobs will be much harder.
There are many ways of defining cities, but the one used should be selected for economic rather than political reasons.
Will Jennings, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Southampton and co-founder of Centre for Towns, unpacks the findings of his recent co-authored article “The Politics of Levelling Up”.
The idea that recent growth of cities has come at the expense of towns has become a mantra. The problem is, it isn’t true.
The widely held, but wrongly assumed, belief that cities are rich and towns are poor will make levelling up even more difficult if it shapes policy.
Four senior politicians on how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the levelling up agenda - and why it's more important than ever.
Once the coronavirus crisis has passed, Keir Starmer has the task of reshaping the party. A change in how it views cities and towns is vital.
The political imperative for investing in the North and Midlands is clear from last month’s election. But the Government must work with economic realities if it is to deliver for the voters who delivered its majority.
Why are towns so important to the election and what are the main parties offering them to win them over? To explore these and other election issues, Andrew Carter is joined by Will Tanner, Director at Onward and Rachel Lawrence Director of Programmes and Practice at the New Economics Foundation.
Andrew Carter is joined by a panel to discuss how evidence-based policymaking can help disadvantaged places with low levels of economic activity and high proportions of vulnerable people in the wake of cuts to local authority budgets.