Levelling Up through private sector ‘wealth creation’: some thoughts on the neglect of alternative approaches

The Levelling Up White Paper (LUWP) promises to tackle some of the deep, enduring and widening social and geographical inequalities that have emerged in the UK in recent decades. A lengthy and, at times, meandering analysis attributes the divergent spatial fortunes of places to the presence or absence of ‘six capitals’ physical, human, intangible, financial, social and institutional seen to be mutually reinforcing in both a ‘virtuous’ and ‘vicious’ sense. So-called ‘left behind’ places are those which have experienced “depletions or deficiencies in any one of the capitals in a self-enforcing, vicious spiral of low income and weak growth” (HM Government, 2022: 50). For example, a lack of skilled workers (human capital) can limit investment and innovation (intangible capital) as well as pride in places (social capital).