Dr Mark Sandford

Dr Mark Sandford was a Research Fellow with the Constitution Unit for five years, from 2000 to 2005, working mainly on regional government in England.  He worked as Research and Evaluation Manager for the Electoral Commission before joining the House of Commons Library in 2008, where he is Senior Researcher specialising in local and regional government. 

Mark's first degree was in Sociology, and in 2007 he was awarded a PhD. He has written two books and many other publications. His publications include:

Journal articles

• “Giving power away: The ‘de- words’ and the downward transfer of power in mid-2010s England”, Regional and Federal Studies, under submission
• “Conceptualising generative power in the city-regions of England”, Urban Studies, under submission
• “Money talks: the finances of combined authorities”, Local Economy, forthcoming 2019
• “England plus? Territory, identity and fiscal devolution in the UK”, with Federico Mor, British Politics 14:1, 44-62, 2019
• “’Taking back control’, the UK’s constitutional narrative, and Schrodinger’s devolution”, with Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Parliamentary Affairs, forthcoming
• “A reply on fiscal decentralisation”, Public Money and Management 39:1, 2-4, January 2019 “Territory, power and statecraft: understanding English devolution”, Regional Studies 52:6, 853-864 with Matthew Flinders and Sarah Ayres, 2017
• “Policy making front and back stage: assessing the implications for effectiveness and democracy”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19:4, 861-876, with Sarah Ayres and Tessa Coombes, 2017.
• “Growing pains: property taxation and revenue incentives in English local government”, with Federico Mor. Local Economy 32:5, 399-419, 2017 Winner of the Sam Aaronovitch Prize 2017 for best article in journal
• “The quiet return of equalisation alongside incentive in the English local government finance system”, 2017, Public Money and Management 37:4, 245-252
• “Citizen participation and changing governance: cases of devolution in England”, Policy & Politics 45:2, 251-269, 2017, with Brenton Prosser, Alan Renwick, Arianna Giovannini, Gerry Stoker et al.
• “Signing up to devolution: the prevalence of contract over governance in English devolution policy”, 2017, Regional & Federal Studies 27:1, 63-82
• “Public services and local government: the end of the principle of ‘funding following duties’”. 2016. Local Government Studies 42 (4): 637-656
• “English Question or Union Question? Neither has easy answers”, with Robert Hazell, Political Quarterly 86:1, 2016, pp. 16-23

Book chapters

• “Is devolution to England’s cities here to stay?”, in ed. Akash Paun, Has Devolution Worked?, Institute for Government, forthcoming 2019
• “Adapting to the fiscal landscape: local governments, revenue and taxation powers”, 2018, in ed Richard Kerley and Joyce Liddle, International Handbook of Local Government
• “Parliament and Devolution”, with Cathy Gormley-Heenan, in ed. Louise Thompson and Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Exploring Parliament, 2018
• “Cumbria, the North, and what makes a territory”, in ed. Richard Hayton, Arianna Giovannini and Craig Berry, The politics of the North: Governance, territory and identity in Northern England, University of Leeds, 2015