For the last month, it was clear that the Government was expecting to make a big announcement on the future of devolution in England. There were murmurings in the local government world as councillors expressed their concerns about what was being briefed and how it could affect the most vulnerable residents.
When details were finally published this month, it became evident that this Labour administration has decided that Whitehall knows best, and that locally elected and accountable councillors aren’t to be trusted. This month, the Government has announced that it intends to amalgamate councils in some of the UK’s most populous counties while reducing their accountability.
Rather than address the underlying problems of centralisation in the UK, Ministers have chosen to pursue a reductive approach to devolution. Through the English Devolution White Paper published earlier this month, Ministers will create new unitary bodies that are detached from their residents by layer upon layer of bureaucracy.
In the House of Commons, the Minister came to defend these changes but clearly was unprepared for the scale of concern from MPs and the local government world. In my response to his statement this afternoon, I pushed the Minister on how these proposals may disrupt council services and see taxes rise. I have deep reservations about those who may fall through the cracks of local authority support or be subject to unjust tax hikes like those we have seen under London’s Sadiq Khan. You can view this here.
