Regional funding after Brexit: Opportunities for the UK's Shared Prosperity Fund

Article

Regional inequality is a dominant feature of the UK’s current economic landscape. Power and prosperity are concentrated in London and the South East, while other areas of the UK experience lower levels of output and productivity. Poverty and inequality still exist in London, but such a concentration of wealth is not found in any region outside of the capital.

The UK’s forthcoming departure from the European Union brings uncertainty over the future of funding allocated to the nations and regions of the UK. EU regional policy provides significant investment in the form of European structural and investment funds (ESIF). After Brexit, the UK will need to continue to give targeted support and investment into regions with lower levels of growth and higher levels of poverty, or it risks worsening the geographical divide.

Despite the uncertainty, leaving the European Union also brings an opportunity: a chance to redesign regional funding and create sustainable and inclusive regional economies. The government has named the ESIF replacement as the ‘UK Shared Prosperity Fund’ (SPF) – a fund committed to tackling inequalities between communities by raising productivity in areas of the country that are ‘furthest behind’.

This briefing aims to outline three challenges facing the UK: regional inequality; centralisation of power; and a lack of community voice. It then provides recommendations for how the Shared Prosperity Fund could be designed effectively to tackle these problems.

Related items

  1. A mother and child from behind looking out of a window

    Restoring security: Understanding the effects of removing the two-child limit across the UK

    The government’s decision to lift the two-child limit marks one of the most significant changes to the social security system in a decade.
  2. A group of healthcare professionals sitting in a staff common room in a hospital in Newcastle

    Building a healthier, wealthier Britain: Launching the IPPR Centre for Health and Prosperity

    Following the success of our Commission on Health and Prosperity, IPPR is excited to launch the Centre for Health and Prosperity.
  3. The Home Office building in London

    A ‘paradigm shift’ in asylum and immigration policy?

    In 2019, a package of asylum reforms known as the ‘paradigm shift’ was passed by a broad party consensus in the Danish parliament.