𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆. 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹 – 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀

The reinvention is not really the problem. The problem is that we set fire to everything we knew about wheels.

Budgets are slashed, institutions abolished, staff dispersed, and then a new initiative arrives expecting better results from people with less capacity and no memory of what was tried in 1998. a few years ago I met officers starting a business growth programme from a blank sheet who had not even looked at what the neighbouring authority is already doing well.

Compare Bilbao. Sixteen industrial clusters, run for around thirty years, heavily private sector led with public co-funding and central intelligence behind them. Or Foundation Chile, which seeded six or seven industries in the 1980s. Two of them, wine and salmon farming, became national export industries. Four went nowhere. They took the risk and they kept going.

What both share is that they do not live or die by the national political cycle.

No place has ever restructured its economy inside a parliamentary term. It takes thirty, forty, fifty years of stability, vision and retained capability. Our system offers five, and often less.

𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

🎧 I unpack this with Nicola Headlam on Placecast, the LPIP podcast from the University of Birmingham: https://blog.bham.ac.uk/lpip/2026/07/22/placecast-episode-19-why-uk-local-economic-policy-keeps-failing/

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽𝘀://𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰-𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.𝗸𝗶𝘁.𝗰𝗼𝗺/𝟯𝟬𝟮𝟵𝟭𝟲𝗳𝗮𝗳𝗮

#Devolution #EconomicDevelopment #IndustrialStrategy #DeliveryGap