English Devolution: moving power away from the local?

Devolution stems from the Latin devolvere, or “to roll down” (at least – that’s what a quick bit of research tells me, I’m no classicist). In the UK, the greatest contemporary examples are the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly, until recently it conspicuously excluded England outside of the M25. 

Only a few England’s largest cities currently have devolved powers. That, according to the new Government, is set to change. 

As part of sweeping changes to the system of English local government, ministers are proposing a program of both unitarisation and mayoralties. In return for the shake up, local authorities can expect a local mayor who has new powers and more funding from Westminster to spend locally. 

Simplification of local government is welcome. Anyone who has spent time doorstepping during election time will know the complaint about the district’s handling of the roads and the county’s handling of the bins. The distribution of responsibilities between local authorities is confusing and opaque as it stands.  

However, the government’s emerging blueprint for devolution has already come under criticism for doing the opposite of what it should. Instead of “rolling down” powers, at the local level the government is proposing to “roll up” with unitary authorities far larger than the current norm. 

The Times reports that local government can expect a change of 1974 proportions, with our current districts and counties swept away by a new landscape of unitary authorities with populations of around half a million. For context, only 11 of England’s 296 district, borough or unitary authorities have a population over 500,000, with the smallest not even a tenth of this size (excluding the City of London and Isles of Scilly). 

Unitarisation on these lines would move the town hall the furthest away we’ve known. The risk therefore is that the wider devolution agenda is undermined in England. While mayors arrive with new powers from Westminster and a focus on the strategic, at the local level power risks shifting even further from residents. Is that a price England is willing to accept for a simplified and – we’re promised – more streamlined local government? 

The answer may well be in the devolution white paper which is expected imminently. We wait with bated breath.