Devolution
Recovery plans key to levelling up
Government ambitions for levelling up depend on councils being given funds to fulfil local recovery plans, the All Party Parliamentary Group on devolution has been told.
Warm words mean nothing when frontline staff are snubbed
Heather Jameson says: 'The Prime Minister’s speech to Scottish Conservatives at the weekend, reiterating his commitment to devolution.... all bodes well for local government. Or does it?'
Devo is a 'stepping stone to localism', PM tells Scots Tories
Devolution should be a stepping stone to passing power down to local communities and businesses, Boris Johnson has told Scottish Conservatives.
Sunak to re-write Green Book to level up the North
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce plans to re-write the Green Book in the spending review this week, as part of the Government’s commitment to levelling up.
LGA presses to move powers out of London
Moving powers from the capital to the regions is more important than moving civil servants, the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.
An opportunity to rewrite local-central relations
Now it is time to click refresh on the Johnson Government. But what of local government and the Blue Wall, asks Heather Jameson. 'Where does that leave the PM’s promises of levelling up and devolving down?'
Creating Powerful Communities
The Recovery and Devolution White Paper must seize on the promise of double devolution to build economic and social renewal from the bottom up, says chief executive of Localis Jonathan Werran.
Jenrick defends PM amid devo 'disaster' claim
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has defended the Prime Minister’s claim that devolution in Scotland has been a ‘disaster’.
The power of local knowledge
A report show the impressive record of collaboration between Leeds City Council and the University of Leeds and untapped potential for research partnerships, says Neil Evans.
Combined authority expansion halted by ‘party politics’
The expansion of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has stalled after leaders failed to reach an agreement.
Move to a true local state
We have now reached a turning point 'where devolution to a true local state would not only achieve improved public service outcomes but could genuinely save lives', says Rob Whiteman.
Northern Powerhouse must be for real
If the North is to ‘own’ the Northern Powerhouse a new partnership with Government is needed, as called for by the Convention of the North, write Ben Lucas and Mike Emmerich.
Is the love affair with mayors over?
After last week’s rows between Number 10 and city region mayors over lockdown funding Michael Burton looks at governments’ love affairs with the concept of directly-elected mayors and questions whether the romance might be over.
Building for the future
Ben Houchen says that with the former SSI steelworks site in Redcar now the UK’s largest industrial zone, something monumental is now underway – ‘and we can continue to help recover the wider Tees Valley’.
Don't defund, side-line or worse still abolish metro-mayors
While it may not realise it now, the Government needs powerful and prominent metro mayors if it is to have any hope of delivering its levelling up agenda, says Andrew Carter.
The Government’s actions ‘don’t match the words’
Rather than recognising the role of council workers during COVID-19, the Government has prioritised hitting their terms and conditions, says Christina McAnea of Unison.
South east urged to find its voice
Councils in the south east of England have been urged to find a consensus on reorganisation by a local government expert.
Burnham calls for national-local reset
Greater Manchester’s Labour mayor Andy Burnham has called for a ‘reset’ between national and local government after going to war with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
This is not devolution – this is not even centralism
‘Once the poster-child for devolution, Manchester is now being treated as the bad boy of politics – on the naughty step for daring to ask for a good deal for its residents’, says Heather Jameson.
The politics of the ‘Red Wall’ is coming home to roost
There is nothing local or ‘place-sensitive’ in measures packaged in Whitehall and forced on to communities in the North, argues Arianna Giovannini.
