Law, Legislation and Rent-Seeking: The Role of The Treasury-Led Developmental State in the Competitive Advantage of the Southern Powerhouse

Lee, Simon

Abstract

This chapter argues that the political economy of England’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ cannot be understood in isolation from that of its ‘Southern Powerhouse’ neighbour. The UK’s relative decline, especially manufacturing in the North, is frequently allocated to the absence of a state-led technocratic industrial modernisation programme. This paper challenges that analysis, contending that public policy and governance arrangements in contemporary England are the outcome of the long-term strategic priorities of the English (latterly British) developmental state, fashioned by its pilot agency, the Treasury. George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ should therefore be understood not as something novel or a departure, but as simply the latest political narrative in a long-standing tradition of British statecraft which has subordinated the interests of development in the North of England to those of the global financial and commercial interests of the City of London.

Citation

Lee, S. (2017). Law, Legislation and Rent-Seeking: The Role of The Treasury-Led Developmental State in the Competitive Advantage of the Southern Powerhouse. In C. Berry, & A. Giovannini (Eds.), Developing England's North: The Political Economy of The Northern Powerhouse (59-83). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62560-7_3

• Online Publication Date: Nov 4, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 4, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 4, 2022
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 59-83
• Book Title: Developing England's North: The Political Economy of The Northern Powerhouse
• Chapter Number: 3
• ISBN: 9783319625591
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62560-7_3
• Keywords: England; Southern Powerhouse; developmental state; political economy; developmental market
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3949133
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-62560-7_3