Great thread!

The Missing Piece: Fiscal Devolution and the Future of English Governance – Academy of Social Sciences

Piece from me on fiscal devolution in England for the @acadsocsciences.bsky.social Devolution Hub.

I look at some of the evidence around fiscal decentralisation, and the key questions that need thinking about as the Treasury prepares its fiscal devolution 'roadmap'.

acss.org.uk/the-missing-...

Borrowed Faith On Christianity and Christianism

🚨NEW BLOGPOST 🚨

From Vance and the Pope to Tommy Robinson, the populist right is both embracing and quarrelling with Christianity.

It points to the rise of Christianism, an identity focused, civilisational and often incoherent co-option of faith.

open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...

New leadership. New tone. But will it deliver?
In this weeks Re:View, @alwalker.bsky.social discusses Antonia Romeo's objectives as Cabinet Secretary – a rare move that signals a shift toward transparency, performance and accountability.
Read more: open.substack.com/pub/restate/...

This is really good - Henry Kippin on how to do good place based policy. Feels like the right mix to me.

Where should devolution go next? Why we're setting up the Devo Next Initiative to shape the future of English devolution policy

We are pleased to be working with the North East, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Midlands and West Yorkshire Combined Authorities on this important work.

✍️ Read the launch essay from @stkaye.bsky.social & @alwalker.bsky.social:

restate.substack.com/p/where-shou...

Where should devolution go next? Why we're setting up the Devo Next Initiative to shape the future of English devolution policy

Delighted to be working with the North East, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Midlands & West Yorkshire CAs on this.

Substack from @stkaye.bsky.social & me on why we think this is important and some of the areas it'll be covering.

restate.substack.com/p/where-shou...

Really excited about this!

The English devolution agenda is making progress. But this should not represent the limit of ambition - which is why we're launching 'The Devo Next Initiative' today to define and shape the future of devolution policy.

So chuffed to announce this - and to get to work!

This new initiative is a chance to define where we want devolution to go next, and where we want the whole agenda to take the country in the decades to come.

Where should devolution go next? Why we're setting up the Devo Next Initiative to shape the future of English devolution policy

This looks like an excellent and much-needed initiative to shape where devolution goes next.

open.substack.com/pub/restate/...

The Devo Next Initiative - Re:State

"The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act may open a new chapter for local places and people, but it cannot write it."

📣 NEW: Today Re:State is launching The Devo Next Initiative to define and shape the future of devolution policy.

re-state.co.uk/devo-next-in...

Dame @meghillier.bsky.social highlights the need for systemic change in how we regulate:

🚨NEW REPORT - The law of rule🚨

Britain’s regulatory system grows by default. Rules are easy to create, rarely reviewed, and almost never removed.

This report sets out a package of reforms to achieve “better regulation” by strengthening the system at every stage.

@re-state.bsky.social, like many others, have advocated for this for some time.

Proper fiscal devolution can have a positive impact on productivity and growth, but much depends on the surrounding conditions and design.

We will be publishing a full report on this in a couple of months' time!

Really big devolution news!

England is a major outlier when it comes to how fiscally centralised it is.

Allowing Mayoral Strategic Authorities to retain a share of income tax generated in their area would be a major step forward, unlocking more autonomy and direct benefit from local growth.

Mark Sandford: Scrutinising the local state A local public accounts committee model could examine how mayors are performing their stewardship roles, writes an honorary professor at the School for

What's the point of a Local Public Accounts Committee? More bureaucracy, meetings, reports...? See some thoughts on the gaps that a body of this kind could fill at www.lgcplus.com/politics/dev...

I've written this week's @re-state.bsky.social Re:View on the spring statement - which already feels like a long time ago. Have a read!

No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second Referendum Join Mile End Institute to celebrate the publication of Morgan Jones’s new book about the campaign for a second EU referendum and its impact

Why did the People's Vote campaign fail? Could Brexit have been stopped? What lessons can be learned?

Join us on 19 March to launch @morganj0nes.bsky.social's new book: "No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second Referendum".

All welcome!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/no-second-...

This is actually what I most wanted to highlight. I remember hearing a Labour MP argue that politics was ultimately just "a game of competitive storytelling", and then reflecting on just how disturbing the implications for democracy, accountability, and policymaking would be if that were wholly true

David's piece is brilliant in highlighting the stakes involved in the "deliverism" debate - the potential implications for policymaking and democratic accountability are pretty profound (and this often seems underappreciated)

The State of the State 2026 - Re:State The 'State of the State', in partnership with Deloitte, explores the key issues and opportunities facing public services. The report is based on an exclusive Ipsos public poll, and over 100 interviews...

📣 NEW REPORT: 'The State of the State 2026: delivery that matters' in partnership with Deloitte, is out now!

📊 It examines the key issues and opportunities facing public services, drawing on an exclusive Ipsos poll and over 100 interviews with public sector leaders.

re-state.co.uk/publications...

Big new @ukandeu.bsky.social report on UK-EU alignment and divergence, which looks at the story so far and what lies ahead.

I've written a chapter on the intersection with devolved powers and the implications for UK intergovernmental relations. Have a read!

Big new report out from us today looking at the state of UK-EU alignment and divergence.

The key findings are that 1) the UK govt is turning to greater 'alignment' with EU rules as 'Brexit benefits' from divergence have been hard to come by.

But 2) alignment is much easier said than done.

Great piece btw!

There's an interesting question around whether deeper devolution can help alleviate some of this. But also needs to be coupled with better public understanding of who is responsible for what

Hmm. Secondary legislation is, of course, much quicker than primary legislation. It’s also unamendable and frankly subject to less robust scrutiny procedures than primary legislation.

Update on May 2026 local authority elections We have today issued the below statement for immediate use on the local authority elections taking place in May 2026. An MHCLG spokesperson said: “Following legal advice, the Government has withdrawn ...

I think it's right that the May local elections will be going ahead, even in areas undergoing local government reorganisation. Democracy cannot be a matter of convenience or cost.

mhclgmedia.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/16/u...

Build the Rail! Save the Snails! How to speed up the planning system without trashing the environment

New post out:

We have a guest post today from the excellent @dsquareddigest.bsky.social.

"Build the Rail! Save the snails!"

Or how we don't need to sacrifice the environment to speed up our mad planning processes.

(Free to read)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

The Re:View 13 February 2026 “Housing need in England cannot be met without planning for growth on a larger than local scale.”

The Re:View is out! 🎉

This week, Director of Policy and Research, @stkaye.bsky.social unpacks the Government’s latest move in the devolution agenda, as the MHCLG seeks to “fill in the map” of England with a new wave of Strategic Authorities.

👉Read it here: bit.ly/4auVwuB

Perhaps the next 'grand theory' of public service reform will not come from the centre, but from the periphery. Strategic authorities, properly empowered, could connect the testing of new approaches on the frontline with system-level change - and perhaps channel new theories of public management back up to the centre.

"Perhaps the next 'grand theory' of public service reform will not come from the centre, but from the periphery."

@alwalker.bsky.social writing for @re-state.bsky.social

Yes, seems far more likely to me, as long as the centre allows enough flexibility.

open.substack.com/pub/restate/...