Left behind or losing out? The uneven reproduction of globalisation in the UK.

What does it mean to be "left behind" by globalisation? This research will address this question through analysing the intersection of globalisation, UK economic regional imbalances, and everyday life. Globalisation is at the heart of post-Brexit debate, with Prime Minister Theresa May promising to help those "left-behind", and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warning that the UK needs to "move towards more inclusive growth where everyone has a stake in globalization". But in casting contemporary globalisation as a rising tide that fails to lift all boats, the "left behind" narrative reproduces a simplistic vision of globalisation. My hypothesis is that rather than exclusion from always-positive globalising forces ("left behind"), the dynamics in question can be more productively conceptualised as adverse incorporation into an always-uneven reproduction of globally-networked transactions ("losing out"). The research will address the following questions: What is globalisation's role in creating geographical imbalances in the UK economy? How are experiences of globalisation narrated from these different positions? How are the logics of globalisation reproduced, and do those who 'lose out' still play a role? Answering these will make two distinct contributions: understanding how globalisation creates economic divisions in the UK, and re-examining contemporary globalisation theory within International Political Economy.