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The depths of the cuts: The uneven geography of local government austerity

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

Austerity, the sustained and widespread cuts to government budgets, has characterised Britain’s public policy since 2010. The local state has undergone substantial restructuring, driven by major budget reductions from central government. Hitherto, few studies of austerity in the UK have considered the interplay of national and local policies. We contribute a fine-grained spatial analysis of local authority budgets, highlighting their socioeconomically- and geographically-uneven impacts. We identify substantial variations between authorities in terms of funding, local tax-base, fiscal resources, assets, political control, service-need and demographics. We argue that austerity has actively reshaped the relationship between central and local government in Britain, shrinking the capacity of the local state, increasing inequality between local governments, and exacerbating territorial injustice.

Description

Keywords

urban austerity, state rescaling, great recession, territorial injustice, local government restructuring, fiscal discipline

Journal Title

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1752-1378
1752-1386

Volume Title

11

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)
Sponsorship
British Academy (SG150251)
ESRC (ES/M500409/1)
Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust British Academy