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Part 5 – The Narrative of the North-South Divide

  • Writer: Sam Knight
    Sam Knight
  • Jun 1, 2019
  • 8 min read

Although the narratives of there being a North-South divide in the UK is deeply embedded in the thought process of people, it is only an idea that tries to explain how the UK economy operates. There is a material basis to the idea of there being a North-South divide in terms of the UK economy, but how it is understood depends on the ideas and narratives that policymakers hold. The narrative of the North-South divide is that the South is a successful and innovative economy, while the North is a backward economy in need of help (Berry and Giovannini, 2018, pp.5). This means that if the Government wishes to receive the maximum returns for its investment, then investing in London is seen as a safer bet, even if there are better value schemes in the North. The Office for National Statistics (2018) has found that in terms of Gross Value Added per head, which measures how much each region adds to the economy, a divide does exist. London’s GVA per head was £48,857, while the North’s (North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber) was £22,380. How this is understood and the affects it has on the allocation of rail infrastructure investment, is the result of the ideas that policymakers hold (Haughton et al, 2016, pp.359). Ideas can be challenged though; the Northern Powerhouse narrative has acted to counter the North-South divide narrative. Currently though the narrative of the North-South divide remains embedded in policymakers thinking, resulting in the appraisal system favouring London.


The then Chancellor, George Osborne launched the Northern Powerhosue in 2014

The North-South divide is not a natural division but a constructed spatial identity (Gonzalez, 2011, pp.63-64), according to Luke Raikes ‘the Government views the North as it was, not what it is now and certainly not by what it could be’. This means that the North continues to be seen as a deindustrialised region with little economic growth, while the South is seen as the booming economic engine of the economy (Martin, 2009, pp.17-18). This is not the case though, the North is the home ‘of some of the UK’s most important growth sectors. Strengths include science, digital and technology, energy and advanced manufacturing’ (Tighe, 2016). Despite this, the narrative that the North is a backward economy remains embedded in Government. Government being based in London has helped reinforce this narrative, as Hattenstone (2008) argues ‘the ideological distance between London and the North has often been further than the geographical one’.


The lack of investment in rail infrastructure is holding the North’s economy back (National Infrastructure Commission, 2016, pp.13), the issue is that the North-South divide narrative only reinforces the imbalance, by leading policymakers to focus rail infrastructure investment on already productive regions, to maximise national economic growth (Parr, 2017). The North-South divide narrative means that London and the Wider South East are seen as being more productive due to their own merit, so if national growth is to be maximised, then rail infrastructure investment should be used to boost their advantages, rather than wasted on the flawed economy of the North (Gardiner et al, 2013, p891). This can be seen by the Department for Transport’s (2017) justification for Crossrail 2, a new railway line under London, they say ‘London needs new infrastructure to support its growth and ensure it continues as the UK’s economic powerhouse’. As London and the South East are the only regions to produce a fiscal surplus for the Government (Brown, 2019, pp.25), the Government does not wish to constrain their growth, but encourage it. As Patrick McLoughlin, former Transport Secretary, (2015) argued transport investment would be used ‘to level the playing field between north and south. Not by dragging London down. But by firing up the rest of the country’. This explains why the Government has failed to change the appraisal system (26 February 2018, HC 582, Q97), they do wish to help the North, but not at the expense of the dynamic Southern economy which continues to be seen as the core of the UK economy, due in part to the narrative of the North-South divide. Therefore, Government continues to see rail infrastructure investment in London as the most desirable action.


The narrative of the North-South divide has helped reinforce this divide by masking how London has succeeded due to the North losing out (Cochrane, 2013, pp.91), as Gonzalez (2011, p64) argues the North-South divide narrative can be used by actors to hegemonize their views and exclude others. London and the South are portrayed as having been successful due to their own merits, and therefore deserving of investment to continue this success. It ignores how its success has depended on London, in Vince Cable’s (2013) words, ‘becoming a kind of giant suction machine, draining the life out of the rest of the country’ and how the Government, according to a former civil servant, has encouraged this to happen through directing rail investment on commuting lines into London.


This is a map of all the railway lines that have been electrified in the UK, notice how they all centre around London

The North-South divide narrative not only justifies more investment into London but has led to arguments that to be successful the rest of the country needs to be connected to the dynamic and innovative London (Adonis, 2013). This only reinforces the North-South divide by taking growth out of the North towards London (Parr, 2017). The justification for High Speed 2 (HS2) rests in part on connecting the “backward” parts of the UK to the dynamic economy of London and the South East. This can be seen by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling’s (2019) speech ‘I believe the creation of HS2 will super charge economic growth for the North and the Midlands while providing the extra capacity required on busy north to south rail routes… encouraging employers and businesses to not just focus on London and the south-east but the country as a whole’. This can also be seen by the Government building phase 1 of HS2 from London to Birmingham first, before then building the Y section that connects to the North (Dispatches, 2019). The concern, that Craig Berry highlighted, is that HS2 may only extend the London City region rather than empowering the rest of the country. Narratives therefore play a crucial role in shaping how decision makers interpret the material world, and therefore what policies they see as being legitimate. Currently the North-South divide narrative has resulted in rail investment in London being viewed as the most desirable policy.



The Government’s rhetoric of seeking to rebalance the economy through the Northern Powerhouse, has allowed the North to receive more rail infrastructure investment, but it has failed to challenge the North-South divide narrative which remains embedded in policymakers thinking. Luke Raikes says that the Northern Powerhouse rhetoric has allowed the North-South narrative to be challenged. With the North being presented as a growing economy with lots of future potential, which transport investment can unlock. The Government’s use of the Northern Powerhouse rhetoric when discussing transport in the North (HC Deb 30 November 2015, c 5WS) shows that the narrative within Government towards the North has become more positive, and that this can be seen by the raft of announcements made about projects in the North (Grayling, 2018). It has not only been accepted by the Government, nearly half of Northerners have apparently heard of the term Northern Powerhouse, but the real test is whether the Government will fund Transport for the North's £39 billion plan for Northern Powerhouse rail (see picture) (The Economist, 2019).


Transport for the North's proposed improvements to the railway links between Northern Cities

Despite this, London still receives a disproportionately large share of planned infrastructure investment (Raikes, 2018, pp.6). This is because the Northern Powerhouse has not displaced the North-South divide narrative, Berry and Giovannini (2018, pp.6) argue that instead it reinforces it, as it argues the North needs to catch up with the Southern powerhouse. As shown by the justification given by the Government for the Northern Powerhouse, ‘our aim is for economic growth in the North to be at least as high as the rest of the country, to complement and act as a balance to the economic weight of London’ (Department for Transport and Transport for the North, 2015, pp.3). There is also the issue that focusing on the North excludes the rest of the country. Wales and the South West have been side-lined by the focus on the North, despite them also suffering from poor rail infrastructure. Key projects such as HS2 which seek to rebalance the economy, come nowhere near them. Luke Raikes says that ‘other parts of the country will benefit from breaking the London-centric view’ of rail infrastructure, but it’s not clear that this has been achieved. London continues to be seen as the centre of the UK economy, as shown by the continuing imbalance in rail infrastructure investment.


The North-South divide narrative is a barrier to the rest of the country getting a fair share of rail infrastructure investment, with it presenting the North as economically backward and therefore riskier to invest in. Meanwhile the South is presented as a dynamic economy, that deserves further investment to maximise its growth potential. The Northern Powerhouse rhetoric is a welcome development, it is challenging the North-South divide narrative, but has not replaced it yet. This means that decision makers continue to be shaped by the narrative of the North-South divide resulting in them seeing the most legitimate policies as those that invest in London’s rail infrastructure. The result is that the imbalance continues in rail infrastructure investment between London and the rest of the country.


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