The Briefing Room
The Briefing Room
BBC Radio 4
Will a devolution revolution help boost the economy?
28 minutes Posted Jul 16, 2026 at 10:49 am.
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Show notes

Power to the people! Or, at any rate power to the mayors! As government prepares for yet another new prime minister it is keenly aware that this one has moving power away from the centre to the English regions as his big idea. His central idea. The argument is that such devolution will lead to more and better economic growth. But how does that actually work? Would you get more growth that way?

Guests:

Jennifer Williams, Northern correspondent at the Financial Times

Tony Travers, Professor in Practice in the LSE Department of Government
Liam Sides, Associate Director in the Cities and Regions team at Oxford Economics
Thomas Pope, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government

Production team

Presenter: David Aaronovitch

Producers: Ben Carter, Nathan Gower and Kirsteen Knight
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound engineers: Sarah Hockley and Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed, Maria Ogundele