ABSTRACT

Following the Conservative Party’s victory in the 2019 UK General Election, and its success in achieving significant electoral gains across traditional Labour Party ‘red’ areas in the north of England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed not to let down the new Conservative voters and pledged that his government would address longstanding regional inequalities in the UK. Consequently, ‘levelling up’ became part of the public policy lexicon, and, in March 2021, the government published its Levelling Up Fund prospectus. The concept of levelling up enjoys widespread political support, has featured in important policy initiatives beyond the UK, and has been the subject of considerable theorising. This article considers how social scientists might evaluate the success or otherwise of the UK government’s levelling-up agenda. The article suggests that any evaluation of this agenda requires the need to take into account aspects of network complexity, the resource allocation arrangements attached to the policy, and what the policy signifies in terms of governance leadership in the context of delivering public value. The article concludes that the UK government’s plans risk falling short of delivering a sustained reform programme to reduce area-based inequalities.

摘要

继保守党在 2019 年英国大选中获胜，并在英格兰北部传统工党“红色”地区取得重大选举胜利后，首相鲍里斯·约翰逊发誓不会让新的保守党选民失望，并承诺他的政府将解决英国长期存在的地区不平等问题。因此，“升级”成为公共政策词汇的一部分，并且在 2021 年 3 月，政府发布了升级基金的招股说明书。升级的概念得到了广泛的政治支持，在英国以外的重要政策举措中占有一席之地，并且已经成为大量理论化的主题。本文考虑社会科学家如何评估英国政府升级议程的成功与否。文章建议，对该议程的任何评估都需要考虑网络复杂性、与政策相关的资源分配安排以及政策在提供公共价值的背景下在治理领导方面的意义。文章的结论是，英国政府的计划有可能无法实施持续的改革计划以减少基于地区的不平等。