Industrial strategy and the UK regions: sectorally narrow and spatially blind

Abstract The UK government’s new Industrial Strategy could have a significant impact on the country’s regions and localities. However, this has received little attention to date. The analysis presented here examines the existing location of the sectors targeted by the first phase of the Industrial S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCambridge journal of regions, economy and society Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 445 - 466
Main Authors Fothergill, Steve, Gore, Tony, Wells, Peter
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published UK Oxford University Press 22.11.2019
Subjects
manufacturing
R&D
regions
employment
UK
industrial strategy
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Summary:Abstract The UK government’s new Industrial Strategy could have a significant impact on the country’s regions and localities. However, this has received little attention to date. The analysis presented here examines the existing location of the sectors targeted by the first phase of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and the location of the R&D laboratories likely to be first in line for funding. In focusing on an extremely narrow range of sectors, the Fund is likely to have limited impact on the UK’s persistent regional inequalities. The activities eligible for support account for relatively little of manufacturing or the rest of the economy and the basis of this targeting and its potential distributional consequences are spatially blind. As such, it runs the risk of widening regional divides in prosperity.
ISSN:1752-1378
1752-1386
DOI:10.1093/cjres/rsz016