Tag Archives: english devolution

Opinion: Combined authorities and English devolution

The big news on devolution this week has been the twin announcements of more devolved powers for Wales and that Greater Manchester will be devolved control over the £6 billion health budget for the region.

It’s interesting to see what lessons can be taken from this. One is that ‘Devomanc’ really does appear to have substance, despite initial scepticism from various people (myself included) and another is that talk of English Votes on English Laws is even more redundant now that we face the prospect of Mancunian MPs voting on matters affecting the rest of England which don’t affect Greater Manchester.

A further, more worrying lesson, is that devolution is becoming ever more piecemeal with wildly varying levels of devolution both across the UK and across England.

But England the lessons are particularly interesting. Those of us living outside of major city regions like Greater Manchester and Merseyside have been wondering how exactly we can get our share of devolution and it now looks like we have an answer.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 17 Comments

Opinion: English devolution – with maps

Being very much a politics geek, the renewed discussion on English Devolution following the pledge of home rule for Scotland by all three major party leaders, prompted me to start considering what England might look like if the same powers were devolved to it.

Two well known options for English devolution are those of either a devolved English Parliament or devolved regional assemblies for the regions used in European elections. To my mind the former (as a result of covering 53 million people) would continue over-centralisation in England while the latter is hindered by the regions lacking cohesive identities and being …

Posted in Op-eds | 97 Comments
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  • Caron LindsayCaron Lindsay
    Thank you, Tom!...
  • Meg Thomas
    I agree with Sam it is a much wider and insidious problem than cannot be solved by superb services and policies alone. It goes back to how we educate young peop...
  • Peter Davies
    @Simon "The costs of HS2 are indeed outgrageous – but as a few minutes ressearch would show , have little to do with fraud and a lot to do with the utter madn...
  • Judy Abel
    @Hywel fair point although second class letters are so slow that I would prefer the French model!...
  • Judy Abel
    @Ynys I stand corrected but at least I got the right playwright and the right play!...