Political buzz words come and go; modernisation, joined-up government, stakeholder society, the Big Society… But the idea of inclusive growth – where the structure and distributional impact of the economy is as important as the increase in output – comes from a deeper yearning for change. Prosperity has failed to trickle as it was promised, and policy-makers fear the political consequences of that failure – the populists, the demagogues, the emotional lurches to right or left extremes.

Policymakers understand that it is no longer acceptable for poverty and economic insecurity – trends that on many measures are getting worse, not better – to sit alongside great wealth concentrated within the hands of the top 1%. As Charlotte Alldritt, Director of CPP, argued in her blog, the economic policy solutions offered vary hugely between the two main political parties in Westminster. But the underlying analysis and need for more inclusive economic growth is almost identical.

So what can we do to shape a new kind of inclusive growth? What does this mean for national government, sub-regions and the cities and towns of the UK? Shortly after the set up of CPP, we published a think piece on the inclusive growth debate, highlighting some of the practical ways places are trying to respond to the inclusive growth challenge. A grass roots approach to inclusive growth is beginning to emerge, and we at CPP have been tracking it – as informed observers and, in some places, as active participants of change.

Ahead of our 2019 Inclusive Growth Conference, we publish this six step programme places need to make their own in order to embed inclusive growth. This gives us an opportunity to expand on the case studies in the think piece and reflect further on what we have learned so far from working with regions across the country. We invite you to comment on your own experiences and those of other places in the UK and across the world.