The previous chapter argued that populism has emerged in part in response to changes in global capitalism in recent years, of which deindustrialization is one important manifestation. It also argued that – in its right- wing manifestation at least – populism provides no solutions to the problems that have arisen, and instead relies on the launching of culture wars and scapegoats, which are likely to intensify in the face of a failure to address important socio-economic issues such as growing inequality. This chapter examines three possible political alternatives, which are at least more serious than those associated with right- wing populism, even if – as we shall see – the first of these is in many respects compatible with it. The first of these is the levelling up agenda launched by the Conservative government in Britain after 2019, which is associated – if only largely implicitly – with deindustrialization, due to its supposed challenge to uneven regional development. The section takes a sceptical view about the politics behind levelling up, and indeed suggests that it is compatible with the performative politics of spectacle associated with right- wing populism. The second section considers the arguments around universal basic income (UBI) and shows how this is linked to deindustrialization through arguments around “technological unemployment”, as was considered in Chapter 4. Again, there are reasons for some scepticism around UBI, although it is still far more serious than the levelling up agenda. The third section examines debates around the idea of a Green New Deal, which includes some consideration of progress in the deployment of new technologies (albeit in the context of the rising geopolitical tensions discussed in Chapter 6). It also returns to the discussion of global overcapacity in Chapter 6, and how some use the Brenner thesis discussed in that chapter to argue that any such New Deal is not feasible. This argument is rejected and while strategic political dilemmas around any such Green New Deal are discussed, it is argued that this presents the most fruitful political alternative, at least in the short to medium term.

LEVELLING UP: A BRITISH CASE STUDY

Although as we shall see, the idea is implicit in various government initiatives (in Britain and elsewhere), the term levelling up was explicitly used in the Conservative Party election manifesto of 2019 (Conservative Party 2019: 26, 36, 42, 57).