Elected mayors have made their mark, but still Westminster hogs power. That’s a national embarrassment | Tony Travers

elected-mayors-have-made-their-mark,-but-still-westminster-hogs-power.-that’s-a-national-embarrassment-|-tony-travers
Elected mayors have made their mark, but still Westminster hogs power. That’s a national embarrassment | Tony Travers

England is an incredibly centralised country, with the UK government responsible for setting every tax, including the annual cap on council tax. While all the major British political parties are in favour of devolution, it has proven difficult to deliver. Despite their devolved status, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also heavily centralised within their own national systems of government.

The introduction of major reforms to local government structure in England and Wales occurred 50 years ago. Prior to the 1974 changes, there were 1,245 councils in England. After the reforms were implemented, the number of councils was reduced to just 412. Today, there are 317 councils, and the number continues to fall due to near-continual reorganisation. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have a single tier of large municipalities as a result of more recent reforms.

The UK’s pursuit of efficient and effective councils has left the country with fewer, more populous councils than almost anywhere else in the democratic world. This approach has come at the expense of civic identity, a problem exemplified by the fact that England has region-sized councils with fewer powers than rural districts, while France, with the same population, has 36,000 basic units of local government.

The idea of English devolution has been around for decades, but attempts to achieve it have been slow. Directly elected mayors were finally established under David Cameron and Tony Blair, with Blair originally hoping to create regional government across England. However, councils in Greater Manchester worked together on policy with such success that the idea was scuppered by the devolution referendum in 2004.

Now, there is a patchwork of areas with different devolution deals, with some having mayors whilst others do not. Transport, housing, business support, adult education, and planning are spheres of devolved authority, but the degree of devolution varies. However, the powers of even the most advanced mayoral combined authorities and London fall far short of those of the Scottish parliament or the Welsh Senedd.

The degree of centralisation in England is a national embarrassment that undermines trust in democracy. Most people want more power to be devolved locally, and the cautious devolution that has randomly evolved since the early 2000s should be a key element in making the UK a more equal place to live. Labour is committed to further devolution, but the geography of existing deals poses a challenge to creating a uniform system of combined authorities. A shift towards radicalism is, therefore, needed to make meaningful progress

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