Regionalism, Devolution and Infrastructure

Abstract

The relationship between devolution, regions and infrastructure is at the core of much of the current discussion about 'levelling up' in the UK. The lack of investment in infrastructure, together with centralised control over project investment, is a longstanding issue that is causing continuing frustration for sub-national politicians, even those supporting the same political party as the government. This article examines the nature of these relationships over the past and more recent period, considering both the devolved nations and the absence of devolution in England. It considers the role that infrastructure has in regional development and in centralised state control, and its consequences for economic growth. It highlights that the UK, unlike any other EU member state, has no national development or infrastructure plan. The cultural politics of 'levelling up', it argues, therefore remain set in a centralised state with no mechanisms for specific interventions to make social, economic and physical differences to localities that are left behind.