The Politics of the North: Governance, Territory and Identity in Northern England

Major population centres in the North of England, cities such as Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, are little over two hours by train from London. Yet at times ‘the North’ seems a world apart from the metropolis, seeming inhabiting a radically different political, cultural and economic space. How can this be?

A new e-book, titled The Politics of the North: Governance, Territory and Identity in Northern England brings together a range of academic and practitioner experts on Northern cities and regions to answer this question, and others emerging from the government’s pursuit of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ agenda.

The book is co-edited by Richard Hayton of the University of Leeds, alongside SPERI’s deputy director Craig Berry and researcher Arianna Giovannini. It has been published by the White Rose Consortium for the North of England (WRCN), founded by Richard and Craig alongside Martin Smith of the University of York. Contributors include Michael Kenny of Queen Mary University of London’s Mile End Institute, Simon Lee of the University of Hull, Matthew Flinders and Brenton Prosser of the University of Sheffield’s Crick Centre, and Neil McInroy and Matthew Jackson of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies.

The Politics of the North is launched today at Power to the North? Prospects and Challenges to Devolution and City Deals in the North of England, the final of three workshops organised by the WRCN on governance, identity and political economy in the North. The workshop will feature keynote addresses by Lord Bob Kerslake, former head of the UK civil service and currently chairing a parliamentary inquiry into devolution, and Martin Jones of the University of Sheffield.

The e-book is available to download here.