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The EU’s cohesion policy is 30 years old and now accounts for around a third of the EU’s budget. To celebrate, the European Commission has published a new dataset. This details annual payments to the EU’s regions since 1989. The dataset covers most funds under the European Structural and Investment Funds umbrella. For the UK […]
A couple of weeks ago my article ‘Subnational transnational networking and the continuing process of local-level Europeanization’ was formally published in the latest issue of European Urban and Regional Studies (an open access version can be found here). The article explores how local government transnational networking has developed since the 1990s. ‘Transnational networking’ essentially involves […]
Yesterday I attended an event at the House of Commons on Brexit research and how it could be used to inform policy. This was jointly organised by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology and the Economic and Social Research Council, the latter of which is funding the UK in a Changing Europe programme, which in […]
A couple of months ago I wrote about the latest Flash Eurobarometer survey on perceptions of EU regional policy. One of the interesting results was the apparent increase in awareness of EU regional policy in the UK after the referendum. Having now had a chance to access the raw data as part of […]
Last year I was fortunate enough to take part in a masterclass for early career researchers on EU regional policy organised by the Regional Studies Association, the EU Committee of the Regions and the European Commission. The masterclass was part of the annual European Week of Regions and Cities, which last year it took place […]
I’ve just returned from the 2017 UACES conference in Krakow, where I presented a paper on the (rather limited) role of local government in the EU referendum campaign. One of the key starting points of the paper was that little concern is given to the local dimension when discussing Brexit. This is no only reflected […]
EU regional policy spending accounts for about a third of the EU’s total budget. It is the EU’s main mechanism for financial redistribution. In addition to supporting jobs, economic growth, sustainable development and so on, one of its key stated aims is to underpin European solidarity. In this way it is a key part of […]
Next week I embark on my new research project examining the impact of Brexit on UK local government. This is obviously quite broad but I’m essentially interested in three things: Why was the local dimension largely overlooked in the EU referendum campaign? What challenges and opportunities do local authorities believe Brexit presents them with? How […]
Conventional wisdom is that opposition parties perform well and gain ground in by-elections while governing parties don’t. In Stoke Central, Labour managed to retain their seat, albeit with a reduced majority. The Conservative’s win in Copeland, however, was nothing short of a disaster for Labour in a constituency they have consistently held since the 1980s. […]
In European studies and political science more broadly qualitative elite interviews are a well established method. For any PhD student (or indeed any researcher) conducting your first qualitative interviews with elites (those in a privileged position over the activity or area of policy in question) can be a daunting prospect. I was equally daunted, although […]
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