There's a fascinating bit in the PM's levelling up speech which isn't about him or his administration specifically.
Instead, its another illustration of the extraordinary centralised nature and attitude of the British state 1/7
gov.uk/government/spe…
Instead, its another illustration of the extraordinary centralised nature and attitude of the British state 1/7
gov.uk/government/spe…
Specifically it's about local Government.
The key bit in the speech is this message to local leaders about how they acquire greater powers:
"Come to us with a plan for strong accountable leadership and we will give you the tools to change your area for the better"
2/7
The key bit in the speech is this message to local leaders about how they acquire greater powers:
"Come to us with a plan for strong accountable leadership and we will give you the tools to change your area for the better"
2/7
It is preceded by a mini-rant about Ken Livingstone and the 'loony left' with the unmissable implication that localism is inherently to be distrusted and only empowered under strict conditions, licensed by Ministers in Whitehall 3/7
This attitude is not new or specific to this administration. 'City Deals' were the same: convince us you're not mad lefties & we will allow you to spend some money on things that we sign off. So too was the 'new localism' under Labour which was all about 'earned autonomy' 4/7
It is a peculiarly British form of Government. In most countries, local Government has a specific set of functions and a clearly defined and clearly understood role. Central Government interacts with but doesn't fundamentally alter it all the time. Moreover... 5/7
...there is no sense in most other countries that local government exists and exercises power at the pleasure of central government, to be amended or revoked at any time. Local government is instead, just a part of, erm, government 6/7
But this is the UK. So whatever else is or isn't new in this speech, it seems there's going to be no genuine local empowerment or real devolution of power.
It will instead be another variant of: 'submit your plans to Whitehall for approval and we'll be the judge of them' 7/END
It will instead be another variant of: 'submit your plans to Whitehall for approval and we'll be the judge of them' 7/END
Post script: this was a 7 tweet thread so there’s insufficient space to explore the complexities of the UK Gov’t largely doing this mostly for England only in the context of devolution complexities (eg city deals are open to cities in devolved areas. That’s a whole other story)
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