Is the 'North' being politicised? An investigation into the changing nature of party politics in the North of England.

Perceptions about Northern political distinctiveness have existed for some time however, several recent developments have increased the political salience of this issue. Since 2014 there has been an increased focus on the devolution of powers to parts of the North of England through 'city-region deals' and greater attention has been given to the economy of the 'North' due to the 'Northern Powerhouse' agenda. There has also been an emergence of several new Northern regionalist parties in recent years and there have been some notable attempts by politicians from national parties to increase political focus on the 'North', particularly since the EU referendum. In view of this contextual evidence, I hypothesize that the nature of party politics in the North of England is changing. Testing whether this is the case will be the primary aim of this research project. This will pose several key research questions that the project will address. It will consider whether the idea of the 'North' as a politically distinct region is being politicised, or whether smaller sub-regions of the 'North' are being politicised independently. It will examine the potential factors driving this including concerns around identity, socio-economic grievances and demands for constitutional reform. It will identify the actors mobilising the politicisation of the 'North' and consider their motives and aims. Crucially, it will explore the impact and resonance of all of this on party politics in the North of England. This will involve examining how political parties are responding to and engaging with political changes and the distinct political challenges and opportunities in the 'North'. While there is a growing body of academic work examining the politics of the North of England, a detailed study considering how issues around identity, governance and political conflict are coming together and impacting upon party politics in the 'North' will provide a useful contribution to the literature. There is, as yet, no individual study which has addressed this important issue as a whole and explored it in depth. The proposed research methodology will combine analysis of the academic literature and secondary sources with analysis of primary qualitative data gathered from in-depth semi-structured interviews. The first task of the literature review will be to examine the extensive work looking at the idea of the 'North' as a politically distinct region. This will involve consideration of the literature on regionalism and community more generally. Following this, the study will turn its attention to the idea of the politicisation of the 'North'. Hooghe and Marks (2009) offer a compelling theory on politicisation centred around the importance of identity, governance and political conflict. The study will derive an analytical framework from this theory that will be applied throughout. The research will also draw on the literature form several areas of the study of political science including work on the politics of identity, the nature and impact of multi-level governance and literature on electoral competition. The main aim of the primary research interviews will be to discover participant's view on whether the 'North' is being politicised and consider their opinions on how this is or is not impacting upon party politics in the North of England. The choice of this qualitative approach is motivated by the desire for explanation of participants' views. The study's primary research sample will be made up of leading national and local politicians from a variety of political parties as well as activists and stakeholders from Northern interest groups. The sampling method will be purposive with potential interview participants identified based on their relevance and contribution to the current debates around party politics in the North of England.