Discuss the implications of membership of the European Union for problems and policies of regional d

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Discuss the implications of membership of the European Union for problems and policies of regional d

When the UK finally decided and was eventually acceded to the EC in 1973 it was because of a realisation in the country that a significant and momentous change had occurred on the European continent that threatened to leave Britain, as a small, isolated island, behind. Consequently, the UK joined because it offered national advantages. However, the very nature of the 'common' policies which, since membership, threaten to undermine some of the UK's sovereignty have also had important implications for regional development in the UK since all regions are not homogenous.

This essay then attempts to highlight some of the principal problems membership of the EU has brought to the regions of Britain and the impact Community policies designed to lessen these problems have had. It also endeavours to show how membership of the EU has affected traditional national government policies implemented to reduce regional disparities.

Probably the most significant impact membership of the European Union has had on regional development in the UK is regards a deepening of the north-south divide. Although only politically recognised in the 1980s this divide has a history that stretches back to the original location of major manufacturing activity in the north of the UK. Beginning with the extraction of coal to fuel the industrial revolution, this acted as a catalyst which initiated a process of cumulative causation in northern areas and consequently led to the development of shipbuilding, textile, iron and steel and port-based activities. It was industries such as these that constituted the springboard for British expansion abroad and dominated the functionality of the regions major conurbations (Champion and Townsend, 1990).

As Britains position as the leading manufacturing economy changed in the twentieth century and the growth of northern industries was checked by competitors from other industrialising nations a new source of dynamism was needed. This was provided by the boom conditions after the Second World War which led to new rounds of investment occurring mainly in consumer goods and motor vehicles and components manufacturing, though traditional industries still persisted to draw some. Relative prosperity was however short-lived as the oil crises of the 1970s signalled the onset of a long period of worldwide recession that curtailed growth and initiated a long and painful descent of industry into the 1990s.

This historical synopsis of the changing fortunes of northern UK is needed to show how the history of the region is deeply rooted in heavy manufacturing activities and consequently just how narrow its industrial base is. Juxtaposed with the relatively stable economies of southern Britain (drawing on the continued importance of London as a primate city of national and international proportions) it is important to realise the extent of the national north-south divide, in both social and structurally economic terms, pre-membership of the European Union, before the damaging effects which inclusion offers the north can be truly appreciated.

Immediately upon joining the EC in 1973 the national north-south divide was exacerbated and extended to a European level. Not only was the north distant from the concentrated hub of growth in the south-east of the country it was now geographically peripheral to the core of Europe and its status as such had been compounded. However, it is since the Single European Act of 1986 that the problem of increased peripherality has manifested itself as unequal levels of regional development in the UK.

The Single European Act provided the legal muscle that made the target of a Single European Market by 1992 a realistic possibility (Franklin, 1990). It prevented the creation of new and began a process of harmonisation for existing legislation (including taxation and excise duties etc.) aimed at stabilising the Community's internal market and increasing the mobility of capital, labour and goods (Minshull, 1990). Consequently, a new European trading bloc has been created in which competition between companies (and countries) has increased.

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But within this trading bloc, according to the free market neoclassical ideals to which the European Commission adhere, the rules of comparative advantage apply. Inevitably this favours some regions as opposed to others who suffer a considerable and damaging lag in the reallocation of resources (Clout, 1994). In this instance, it is the core, offering operation at maximum efficiency with minimum transportation cost, superior infrastructure and highest profit who appear to be benefitting (Minshull, 1990, Hitiris, 1991, Clout, 1994). London, and therefore the south-east, forming an important part of this core (along with the areas around and including Paris and ...

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