Nice piece on the special urban/rural character of the ‘south Pennines’ with its industrial heritage and wild moors and hills. From my 19thC terraced house in a small mill town it’s just 10 mins to this

“Instead of codification and careful planning the Parliamentary Estate is a mess of ‘unwritten’ conventions, which like the constitution are made sense of only through narrative and route-finding.” Great to see this paper that I worked on with @alexprior.bsky.social and @snfschlee.bsky.social out👇

🚨 | NEW PAPER: Community spaces are vanishing, and with them, the ties that bind us. A year on from the Southport riots, we explore how the loss of pubs, parks and youth clubs is weakening social connection, and how to rebuild it 👉 ippr.org/articles/places-to-come-together

"Young people in the North are being hit twice as hard due to regional inequalities." Read @ryanswift93.bsky.social column in @yorkshirepost.co.uk about how deep geographical disparities are harming children in the North of England. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

“Funding and policy making for culture needs to devolve" We are grateful to esteemed culture expert Professor Katy Shaw for welcoming our State of the North 2025 report ⤵️

The announcement on votes at 16 was welcome but as we set out in our @ipprnorth.bsky.social State of the North report there’s a need to go further to empower young people in our democracy at the local, regional + national levels I’ve written about this here www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

Brilliant to have @alunfrancis.bsky.social, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission welcoming our State of the North report.

Great to have @kimmcguinness.bsky.social backing our State of the North report and its call for fairer culture funding for the North and more devolved powers for culture.

Young people today have endured stagnation and seen opportunity limited. But young people in the North are being hit twice as hard – faced with entrenched regional inequalities. This year’s @ipprnorth.bsky.social State of the North report focuses on the challenges for young northerners.

Great to see the government set out its plans for an elections and democracy bill. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Today the government have announced that votes at 16 will be part of the upcoming Elections and Democracy Bill 👏 @zoebillingham.bsky.social reacts 👇

Cultural funding must become fairer across the country 🎭 @ryanswift93.bsky.social spoke to Capital FM Yorkshire about today’s State of the North research ⤵️

“Too much power is held in London, and by unelected quangos, where decision makers hold the future of Northern arts in their hands" We have united with North East Mayor and Chair of The Great North @kimmcguinness.bsky.social to call out our regional culture chasm ⤵️

Great to see our @ipprnorth.bsky.social State of the North findings on regional inequalities in culture funding being picked up by the Yorkshire Post who highlight the important role that culture can play socially and economically across the region. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

Barely half of people voted in last year’s general election. Our democracy is in crisis, and we risk reaching a tipping point where politics loses its legitimacy. The government has clearly heard these alarm bells.

Great to see the government set out its plans for an elections and democracy bill. www.gov.uk/government/p...

🚨 Today we publish State of the North 2025 🚨 The North gets just half as much arts and culture funding per person as London. We reveal the impact this & other regional divides have on young people, and what must change 👇 www.ippr.org/articles/the...

Research from IPPR North shows that the North has received arts and culture funding of £28 per head since 2023, compared to £57 in London

Young people today have endured stagnation and seen opportunity limited. But young people in the North are being hit twice as hard – faced with entrenched regional inequalities. This year’s @ipprnorth.bsky.social State of the North report focuses on the challenges for young northerners.

Today I’ve published an intervention @ipprnorth.bsky.social on visitor levies 🏨 Backed by calls from Mayors like Oliver Coppard and @davidskaith.bsky.social, the @yorkshirepost.co.uk says it puts pressure on Rachel Reeves to hand over the power to Mayors 🧵

A really welcome announcement from the government earlier this week on fairer funding for local government. I was pleased to comment on it. www.gov.uk/government/n...

A really welcome announcement from the government earlier this week on fairer funding for local government. I was pleased to comment on it. www.gov.uk/government/n...

The Chancellor was right when she said ‘where things are made and who makes them matters’. Regions like the North that have suffered from deindustrialisation should benefit from a long-term, secure approach to industrial strategy and investment as we discussed here: www.ippr.org/articles/reg...

Fantastic new report by @ipprnorth.bsky.social & @msingerhobbs.bsky.social. Decent buses sit at the heart of a thriving society, inclusive economy and healthy environment. This report spells out the changes needed to unlock the real potential of buses in England.

Today we lay bare a decade of broken promises as we reveal how the disparity in transport spending between the North & London has ballooned If the North had seen the same transport investment as London under the previous government, it would have received £140bn more

“There’s a need in the role for metro mayors to put the interests of your place first, ahead of your party political interests" @ryanswift93.bsky.social spoke to Steve Robson @theipaper.com about the election of Greater Lincolnshire's first Mayor ⤵️ inews.co.uk/news/andrea-...

"As the spotlight now shifts from the campaigning to delivery, newly elected mayors must ensure that they act in their place’s best interests" The @ippr.bsky.social's @ryanswift93.bsky.social writes: labourlist.org/2025/05/ippr...

Some thoughts from me for @labourlist.bsky.social on what should come next following new mayoral elections: labourlist.org/2025/05/ippr...

Well, that was quite a day. Read our overview for @news.sky.com of the local election results and how the electoral geography of England is changing (again!).

An illustration of how FPP goes from sandbag to springboard - Reform votes and seats in different councils: Oxfordshire: 18% vote, 2% seats Cambridgeshire: 23% vote, 16% seats Devon: 27% vote, 30% seats Leicestershire: 33% vote, 46% seats Derbyshire: 37% vote, 66% seats

Some thoughts from me for @labourlist.bsky.social on what should come next following new mayoral elections: labourlist.org/2025/05/ippr...

Great to join @indiaippr.bsky.social in Newcastle today for another brilliant focus group with young people for this years @ipprnorth.bsky.social state of the North report.

Great to be back in Wigan, this time to speak with the Youth Cabinet about their ideas for how life can be better for young people. What do young people want? Watch out for @ipprnorth.bsky.social’s State of the North 2025… @ryanswift93.bsky.social @indiaippr.bsky.social @wigancouncil.bsky.social

🚨 Meet the team shaping the future of the North! 🚨 Ever wondered who's behind the research, ideas, and advocacy at IPPR North? Let’s introduce you! 🧵👇

🚨 NEW: The future is clean & the North holds the key 🔑 Our new report shows regions like the North have the competitive edge needed to rebuild the national economy in a way that is sustainable & fair: That edge is green manufacturing 🏭 www.ippr.org/articles/reg...

Our new report makes the case that regions like the North should have a key role to play to in the development of the government’s industrial strategy. It should draw on place-based strengths and deliver opportunity to places that have felt economically and politically overlooked for too long.

🔊 Today is the day of the Convention of the North 🔊 So we're publishing revealing new analysis of public spending 🔬 www.ippr.org/media-office...

“We risk labelling a whole generation as “authoritarian” when the real problem is a lack of confidence in the delivery of democratic institutions and systems” A really good corrective to some of the more alarmist headlines on Gen Z’s democratic values👇 theconversation.com/only-6-of-ge...

Great to be at Citizens UK’s fringe event at the convention of the North tonight hearing the voices of citizens and stories of community action from across the region.

5 challenges for the next step in devolution labourlist.org/2025/02/loca...

Why has Blackpool become the place with the lowest life expectancy in the UK? ❤️‍🩹 @ryanswift93.bsky.social explores this question with Mancunian Matters for their latest podcast 🎧 www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/3101202...

The government announce six new areas are confirmed to join the Devolution Priority Programme including Cheshire & Warrington and Cumbria. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Where did all the voters go? 📺 IPPR's Dr Parth Patel tells the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that we are getting awfully close to the tipping point where elections lose legitimacy because the majority did not take part.

"Looking at that [IPPR North's analysis] do you think, actually, your government failed on the North/South divide?" Anushka Asthana asks Jake Berry on ITV's Peston 👀 youtu.be/jybd_E5JN-c?...

Capping political donations is free, popular and the right thing to do to protect British democracy from Elon Musk and his fellow travellers. So why won't Keir Starmer act? democracyforsale.substack.com/p/trump-and-...

I asked the Deputy Prime Minister about what this government is doing to protect our elections from foreign interference. Pleased to hear that the government plans to introduce new legislation governing party donations and election rules to safeguard our democracy.

ICYMI - last week we published a report looking at how the government could modernise elections and improve turnout, to begin to tackle the problem of political inequality and the rising populist threat👇

“The UK is one of, if not the most regionally unequal countries & much of that comes down to a lack of regional investment outside London & the South East" Marcus Johns spoke to Benedict Cooper for this @politicshome.bsky.social article on whether the Treasury values regions ⤵️

Great report! “Return” here might be another name/definition for “listening”—so thanks for adding this angle for my research of what the concept of “listening” means and its useful polysemy.

The UK isn't very good at treating elections and participation in them seriously, even if Labour might now address this. So we're now at a point of warnings like this being necessary. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...