Devolved government: Can we create an oasis in the North?

The Scottish Referendum on independence marked a significant milestone in the United Kingdom’s Union journey. Just pulling back from the brink of a brave new world, Scotland decided that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

Whilst the outcome was, personally speaking, contrary to what I had anticipated, the process shone a spotlight on what many south of the border but north of Watford had been contemplating: The current command and control of central government was not sufficiently democratic nor insightful to address the pressing needs of England’s regions and cities – calling for devolved government.

What was apparent after the Scottish referendum, and all the public soul searching on the arguments of economic security and political ideology was that this would ignite discussion and debate over the next few years across the UK. In this forthcoming debate I hoped that the arguments wouldn’t be so polarised as presented on the main media outlets on the run up to the independence referendum, but rather much finer grained discourse based on carefully calculated benefits and risks associated with devolved powers.

Devolved government: unleashing market growth

Image reproduced with kind permission from Soapbox London

One such recent contribution to the debate is a recent report by the City Growth Commission; Unleashing Metro Growth. The report highlights the increasing challenges for England’s city regions. It does not argue for a top-down blanket policy of devolution, but a process through which the UK’s major metros can benefit from new powers and flexibilities that match their capability and ambition.

The report also articulates the challenges of creating new governance – ensuring appropriate and necessary checks and balances to prevent, through mismanagement, a Detroitellian urban politic road to self-destruction. However, standing back from what is a carefully crafted assessment of the status quo and how future growth is limited by current orthodoxy of Central Government is the challenge of creating new systems and governance against a backdrop of increasing cuts in public spending.

How can we respond to regional challenges?

Image: University of Salford press office.

As a nation, we are 45% of the way through the nation’s austerity programme – but the low hanging fruit of austerity have been plucked. This in classical economic terms would support the argument for increasing centralisation to improve efficiency at the expense of devolved powers and regional management.

But equally a valid philosophical, or indeed economic, position may be that in the age of public funding austerity it is even more important for regional government to respond to regional challenges. However, I am conscious that this backdrop may unleash a public theatre of debate and tension with new regional statesmen and those of the incumbent government which will be unproductive.

Can history teach us anything about devolved government?

Image: Old Fire Station, University of Salford press office

History shows us that some regions, dating back to the 11th Century, had palatine powers in order that they could effectively govern given the challenges of, in the main, marauding forces: The County or Duchy Palatines lasted for almost 500 years in some cases and were only really dispelled into the Victorian era. These palatine counties illustrate parallels with the challenges that we face today – the raising of taxes to support activities of the realm that were often unconnected to the regions’ that raised them – the then price of loyalty of the monarch.

More recently though we have seen the opposite position of some cities in the US, which prior to the recent economic crisis were held as models for potential reform in the UK. We have witnessed the equal challenges of managing cities where tax bases could not cover the spending they had committed to, and which the majority of voters continued to demand regardless of the ability to pay. Therefore, both the past and present offer challenges which suggest a more contingent approach, which admittedly is outlined within the Commission’s report.

Who can benefit from devolved government?

Waiting at Manchester Picadilly (CC) by Kieran Lamb

This will therefore mean those city regions which have good governance, shared visions, modest disparity, robust accountability, and economic success will benefit from the opportunities offered by devolved powers, and those that fail will have more to lose than what the current status quo fails to deliver. The stakes have therefore never been higher – there will be winners and losers as a result of more devolved powers. The report brings much needed clarity to the debate, and states that

“at the outset, only London, Manchester, and West Yorkshire may be ready to manage these risks. But this is a fast developing process, and others – such as the North East – may be ready soon”.

Being typically Mancunian, I would argue that for economic success from devolved powers and a rebalancing or scaling of growth

‘You gotta roll with it’

but

‘You gotta take your time’.

What do you think? Share you thoughts below!