Following the Scottish referendum, English devolution has come to the top of the political agenda and the Tories are trying to define a framework which would suit their purposes as quickly as possible.
Last week George Osborne did a deal with the leaders of the ten local councils in the Greater Manchester region – all bar one Labour-controlled – which is seen as setting the benchmark for other cities and regions in the North as they “become ready” for devolved powers.
The deal provides a minimal amount of powers and money in exchange for accepting the imposition of an elected mayor – something which was rejected in a Manchester referendum in 2012. The region gets powers over transport, planning, housing, policing, skills training and some business support functions plus control of £1 billion out of existing funds.
But there will be no fund-raising powers and no restitution of the cuts that have hit northern cities disproportionately hard. Rather: “In the context of the wider fiscal consolidation agenda, the city region would be required to take a fair share of any reductions that are made to any of the devolved funding streams.” So, more cuts to come. And the purse strings still in the hands of the Treasury.
As for the mayor, it seems Osborne’s aim is to empower one person without even the minimal democratic accountability provided by the Greater London Assembly. There will be no elected body to which he or she is answerable and the only resort the electorate will have is an election every four years, or possibly some complex recall mechanism. Between now and the election in 2017 a totally unelected pseudo-Mayor will be chosen from among the existing council leaders.
It is not surprising that the Labour councils who have done nothing to fight government cuts have meekly accepted the first offer Osborne made. His talk of ‘“northern powerhouses” fits quite well with the policy of business-led “regeneration” favoured by local leaders. There is little in this package that will deal with the serious social problems in the region.
Nor is it a real plan for regional devolution which would start to redress some of the major inequalities between the better-off (Tory-voting) and poorer regions of England.
