General election: resources for local economies

Following the Prime Minister’s surprise announcement that there will be a General Election on 4 July, you may be wondering what that means for you and your work in local economies.

We’re putting the final touches to our recommendations for what the next government should prioritise in its first 100 days, and a briefing for ministers on the great work being done by community wealth builders across the UK but in the mean time, we’ve collated some of our best resources for you to navigate the uncertainty.

For thinking ahead to how English devolution should evolve over the next Parliament…

• Read our joint paper on the Reclaiming Our Regional Economies programme and what we and our partners are learning about the enabling conditions combined authorities need to better reflect the priorities of communities they serve.
• Explore our analysis of the growth story in Greater Manchester to understand why GVA isn’t the best measure for improving lives and articles in the New Statesman expanding on the same theme.

For understanding what the next government needs to do to support local climate action…

• Read Our places, our planet – our in-depth research with local and combined authorities to understand the barriers they are facing in delivering climate action and what the government should do to overcome them.

For getting to grips with the power of local procurement and spend…

• Read Changing Places, which looks to the future of social value and provides a rallying call to action for place-based leaders to forge ahead in their pursuit of social value excellence.
• Look back at our spend analysis for Manchester City Council to see their journey from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022

For exploring the future of partnership working in place…

• Read Healthy places, which explores the role that the NHS can play in co-creating inclusive economies with other local partners and provides guiding principles for all anchor institutions to maximise their impact.
• Look out for our new guide to setting up an anchor network – a practical guide for partnership working for better place outcomes, due out later this month.

For thinking about the future of place-based investment and incentives…

• Explore our toolkit for getting the most out of levelling up projects (but cross your fingers that the era of competitive funding approaches may soon be at an end…).
• Read Future freeports, which looks at how freeports have performed so far and provides guidance on how the agenda for investment zones and similar approaches should evolve.
• Take a glimpse at how local economies could function better for women, by reading Women’s Work, our joint paper with the Women’s Budget Group and Leeds City Council.

For a glimpse into the future of local economic development…

• Read This must be the place, which explores what can be done in the here and now and what could be supported by Westminster to advance progressive practice in building community wealth.
• Take a peek at its precursor, A light in the dark, where we present our findings from interviews and discussion groups with local authorities to understand where local economic development practice is going now.

For thinking about how social care could work better for everyone…

• Read our 2021 paper exploring who owns the care sector, how that’s contributed to the sector’s woes and how a future approach could be different.

For getting your MP on side…

• Share our latest guide to community wealth building for councillors with them (there is some stuff in there that’s not relevant for their work but plenty to get them thinking).
• Tell them to watch out for our briefing for MPs and prospective MPs, coming their way soon.

We will continue to add to this content in the run up to polling day to ensure the debate is informed by the insights we gain by working in places across the UK to get fairer outcomes for everyone and you can keep up to date with CLES’s work on Twitter, and our LinkedIn page.