IEA Director General Mark Littlewood has written for The Times arguing that the levelling-up agenda needs to distribute more power away from Westminster, rather than just more money.

Mark criticised the current approach to levelling up:

“the centralised decision-making process is certain to lead to a misallocation of resources. There will be things built that politicians will be able to point at during a photo opportunity and claim some credit for. What won’t be considered is what else the money could have been spent on. Having dozens of local projects that deliver some return is not the same as money being spent optimally.

“Instead of a centralised state plan to “level up”, the route to growth in poorer areas is to send power down.

“The aim to spread prosperity to struggling parts of Britain is noble. However, at present, levelling up doesn’t equate to much more than top-down decision-making.”

The full article can be read here.