Powerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’

Powerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’. Regional Studies. The Northern Powerhouse is the UK government’s latest attempt to reduce regional disparities. By bringing together the cities of the north into a functional economy, the aim is to create an agglomeration with the scale to counterbalance London. This paper summarizes and critically reviews this agenda. While sympathetic to the basic idea, it argues that the Northern Powerhouse is a vague and problematic concept. It can be understood both as an economic development strategy and as a political brand, giving focus to disparate and often pre-existing policies. It has meant new resources and institutional change, but is geographically fuzzy with insufficient funding to achieve its unclear aims.