On coming to power the UK New Labour government made social inclusion a pillar of its mainstream policies. The run up to the creation of the Regional Development Agencies seemed, however, to be in danger of ignoring this and positioning them in a narrowly economic role mirroring the Welsh and Scottish Development Agency models and missing the opportunity for them address wider agendas. The author argues that the impact of European Objective One and Two policies for community economic development in the years following 1994 has sensitised local and regional interests in England to the opportunities of more locally owned actions dedicated to achieving social inclusion and that traditional regional policy portfolios will be seen as insufficient. He also explores the rising tide of interest in social economy and third system approaches generally, again with strong European influence, and examines a series of wider policy actions for the RDAs to consider under the banner of competitiveness with social cohesion.
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