Report

Levelling up? Lessons from Germany

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society looks at Germany’s relatively successful attempts to rebalance regional growth since reunification.

For 150 years, centralised government has allowed regional inequality to accelerate. The so-called ‘north-south’ divide in fact describes economic under-performance of most of the south west, the midlands, the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In recent years, UK policymakers have sought to learn from Germany’s relatively successful attempts to rebalance regional growth since reunification. But the UK must learn the right lessons from Germany to address its severe regional inequalities. Despite our two countries’ many differences, there are some important transferable lessons for UK policymakers to take onboard. This short think piece summarises what the UK can learn from German devolution and regional rebalancing. It draws on the policy literature, a roundtable held in September 2021 and a series of interviews with specialists in the UK and Germany. This is a joint project by the Fabian Society and FES-London. This paper is split into three broad ‘lessons’.