In those heady days of a first term Labour government under Tony Blair we believed anything was possible – including a long overdue settlement to what has been called the ‘English question’. “England remains a gaping hole in the devolution settlement. Devolution will not be complete, and the settlement may not be stable, until the English Question has been solved”, mused academic Robert Hazell in his book The English Question.
Buoyed by the establishment of a Scottish parliament, a Welsh assembly, and Stormont in Northern Ireland, those of us campaigning for regional government in England believed our time had come. I kept pointing out to anyone who would listen that what had been granted to London with the Greater London Assembly, Yorkshire, too, wanted and would considerably benefit from. It was only right and fair that the English regions would be given the same devolved settlement.
This is not to revisit those years and the painful North East referendum (although please, why a referendum when other places just had legislation?) but a reminder that yesterday’s white paper on devolution has been a long time coming.
A tried and tested vision to tackle greater regional inequality
The great irony is that this white paper bears quite a similar resemblance to a white paper I wrote during the years of Campaign for Yorkshire. In May 2002, I published a synopsis of the government’s white paper, ‘Your Region, Your Choice’, outlining what was being proposed for elected regional assemblies. The powers granted pretty much mirror what is being offered today to those established mayoralties. Housing, transport, planning, economic development, environment, although sadly missing in this offer are the European structural funding programmes – you can thank the Tories for that.
The case made for greater devolution is no different. A centre that won’t let go, decisions closer to the people, the end to a one-size-fits-all mentality of some government programmes. The difference from 2002 is that now the regional inequalities are even greater, there is slower wage growth and a decline in living standards compared to other developed countries. A redistribution of power is seen as not only necessary but just – and regional mayors have shown so far they can be vehicles for change.
They can also move and respond faster to local issues in comparison to the interminably slow grind of the national state. Take, for example, the speed of taking back control of buses and trams in Yorkshire.
Reorganising local government – the case for streamlined structures
Those established mayoralties of Manchester, London, South and West Yorkshire, the North East, West Midlands and East Midlands will have an integrated settlement and consolidated budgets for housing, regeneration, transport and skills with a statutory role for rail and some coordination of major road networks. This is big meaty stuff.
Alongside this comes reorganisation of local government. This was one of the bigger headaches in the devolution plans of the 2000s where suddenly everyone seemed to love having two tiers of local government.
And yet this is one of the most obvious reforms to make. Scale matters – as does alignment and identity. Parish councils have a role but streamlining local government makes sense. “The Government will facilitate a programme of local government reorganisation for two tier areas and for those unitary councils where there is evidence of failure or where their size or boundaries may be hindering their ability to deliver sustainable and high-quality services for their residents”, said the Local Government Association yesterday.
If you want devolution to work – and who doesn’t – then you need an institutional framework that is fit for purpose. And this is where the other great irony may be with all this.
Devolution: from populist resistance to enacting real change
Leading the charge against devolution in the early 2000s was none other than one Dominic Cummings. Duplication he cried. Another tier of government. “The regional assembly would create more politicians, so as you would expect it means the regional assembly will come with huge extra cost. The bill for the North East would be a staggering £1mn per week”, declared the unashamedly populist referendum video honed by the man behind the Brexit campaign.
This time devolution is building on an existing tier and streamlining what is already there – and in some cases reducing the tiers of sub-national government. What is there not to love? Tories who suddenly claim that two tier local government is a thing of beauty need to go and remember just what they were saying 20 years ago when this was on offer.
Devolution is a process not an event. What the government put forward yesterday is to be welcomed. There is much there that will help to deliver real change for our communities and our regions. It’s still a work in progress but shows some real joined up thinking – something that has been in short supply for the last 14 years.
More articles from Jane Thomas
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