‘Walking on the bright side’ of English devolution: Exploring a critical space for innovation and policy effectiveness at the sub-national tier – Academy of Social Sciences

The Positive Public Policy (PoPP) gang have written a blog for the @acadsocsciences.bsky.social Devolution Hub inviting readers to 'walk on the bright side' of English devolution. If we can engage positively with new opportunities the future may be better than the past

acss.org.uk/walking-on-t...

England The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill was at report stage in the House of Lords at the time of writing, and it has not as yet been subject to significant changes. As indicated in the previous issue of Monitor, the bill seeks to standardise and clarify the powers available to each type of ‘strategic authority’. It also proposes to require all local authorities without elected mayors to use the leader and cabinet system, in which the councillors elect a leader (usually the head of the largest party) and that person then appoints a cabinet in which individual councillors are given specific policy responsibilities. In March, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said that she is developing ‘a roadmap for future fiscal devolution’ in England. This would devolve some tax revenues to regional mayors. The government’s process of restructuring local government in two-tier areas to a unitary pattern has continued. All two-tier areas in England have now submitted proposals to reorganise into single unitary authorities. The process is furthest advanced in Surrey: the county and district councils there are to be replaced by two new unitary authorities, which will hold their first elections in May. In four further areas – Hampshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, Essex...

Have you heard that strategic authority mayors may be getting new financial powers?

Are you up to date with the restructuring of local authorities and creation of new strategic authorities in England?

Read more in Monitor 92 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

Delivering on harmonising boundaries is a significant component of this type of aspiration. I looked at latest developments in that space here: www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/line-da...

Researchers are fond of saying that policy is in flux, when a lot is happening and it's not clear what it all means, but in the case of English devo that really is the case right now: many parallel initiatives, overall direction unclear, very much all to play for, including on geographies....

The BBC claims that 'foundation strategic authorities' are supposed to be temporary. The English Devolution white paper did say this, but Govt seems to have shifted since then: more interest in getting strategic authorities up and running than in whether they all have mayors

Cornwall devolution: Could an independence bid be lost? Supporters of more Cornish devolution have repeatedly fought against any forced links with Devon.

Decent summary from BBC of issues around devolution in Cornwall and Devon here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... But the article is a little bit behind the curve:

With thanks to @jacknewman.bsky.social for the map image!

Line dancing: can harmonised boundaries be delivered? - Bennett School of Public Policy The Government says it wants to align the boundaries of England’s public institutions with new strategic authorities. Yet recent reforms in areas like health and policing reveal competing pressures, a...

Latest piece on questions around English mayoral devolution. Can health authorities and police authorities be reformed in line with spatial development strategies and new Foundation Strategic Authorities? Find out more at www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/line-da...

Chancellor’s growth plan sets key principles for UK-EU alignment The Chancellor has set out how the government will build a stronger and more secure economy in an uncertain world.

Here's a working link www.gov.uk/government/n... This is a surprise, especially that income tax is getting mentioned by name!

What to do when the sunlight hardens Crisis makes the strongest case for a different kind of state.

Has our long-standing emphasis on a consumerist model of citizenship - emphasising citizens as recipients of security, not contributors to it - served to degrade national resilience? A thought-provoking, and beautifully written, post from Polly Mackenzie
@pollymackenzie.bsky.social

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 realised today that this is starting to give me Northern Ireland vibes...

Surely this will be affected by permission for exceptional financial support, to some extent at least?

Helping mayors map a path to better places The Government's English devolution agenda is introducing many new responsibilities and ways of working. Mayors will be required to publish a local growth plan,...

I have a piece in the Municipal Journal on using economic valuations to make the case for, and choose between, policy options www.themj.co.uk/helping-mayo...

West Midlands urged to strengthen leadership and secure finances West Midlands Combined Authority has been urged to bolster its leadership and long-term finances. A peer review by the Local Government Association said filling...

WMCA peer review advocates sources of funding that are not taxes or grants: www.themj.co.uk/west-midland... There is a related, unexplored question about whether commercial / investment proceeds helped get English mayors off the ground! See Manchester Airport and various road tunnel tolls.

Loved this sentence "local government is too often the Untermensch of political science, despite its importance to voters". It has not always been so: this is a recent and very regrettable change. Shameless plug to my piece on this subject: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils

Agreed - I am surprised this size of new commitment hasn't had more attention. The settlement also commits to doing something unspecified for 26-28. A similar commitment for those years would require a further similar-sized chunk of money.

The first song on this clip appeared on Enya's album Shepherd Moons in 1991

Nearly 70 English councils say they face insolvency over special needs education debt Plea illustrates dilemma facing government as it attempts to overhaul increasingly expensive system

I have thought for some time that SEND overspends will be the factor that really kills local government financially www.ft.com/content/ab85... A situation where there's not likely to be much choice other than for the Govt to find the money

On time, On Budget - and Fast — Freewheeling The secret to getting things done quickly and cheaply lies in how organisations are run. I know - I've been part of a team that's done it.

This is absolutely right. It's actually just about leadership, period. I wrote this blog post about a project I was actually involved in that achieved its objectives, on time and on budget. Despite green belt, badgers, bats, NIMBYS, a public enquiry and everything else the system could throw at it.

Build the rail! Save the snails! — Labour Together Why does British infrastructure cost so much? This paper, by economist Dan Davies, argues that Britain’s adversarial planning system forces developers to gold-plate solutions to hypothetical problems....

Recommend this www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/... I particularly liked the sentence "As a common law country, our natural default is to make decisions by adversarial process between interested parties". Influence of the constitutional water we swim in on practical matters is rarely acknowledged

Ministerial statement expected on "business rates" today. Conceivable that this may relate to issues around pubs and revaluation, though no further details currently. Watch this space - around 1pm #businessrates #pubs

Exclusive: Kent looks to introduce foreign lorry levy Kent CC is exploring how to introduce a levy on foreign lorries and freight traffic entering the county.  Council leader Linden Kemkaran (Ref) told LGC:

Wondering about the mechanism to actually implement this: www.lgcplus.com/politics/dev... Could be a Venice-style entry tax: or a road pricing scheme, but one that includes motorways and only covers non-UK vehicles?? Not sure either is legally possible right now.

The Government has announced that elections scheduled for May 2026 will be postponed in 29 councils. Five of these have already been postponed for 12 months, having been originally scheduled for 2025: Thurrock, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Sussex and West Sussex. #localgov #reorganisation

New development: How could incentive-based sources of finance fund English local government effectively? The UK government’s Fair Funding Review will introduce major changes to the allocation of local government funding from 2026. Government policy statements indicate that scope still remains for adju...

How could business rates be improved so as to provide solid funding and encourage growth? Some ideas from me and @muldoonsmith.bsky.social url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/J-b9CVA3BF...

What is happening to business rates on pubs? Some pubs may have to pay significantly higher business rates from April 2026. This follows business rates revaluation and the removal of covid-era relief.

With the government reportedly about to provide additional support for pubs on business rates - what would this mean and how would it work? See commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... for what we know at the time of writing

Interesting that "Northern mayors" get name-checked in this article. How significant is their existence, and involvement, in this reported decision?

Ministers to announce new rail link between Birmingham and Manchester [FREE TO READ] Government will reveal much-delayed plans for major new and upgraded rail links in north of England

Excl

Birmingham to Manchester is back on

as.ft.com/r/771bb6e6-4...

Thanks JP for this, I had no idea that these were all run from a single source. It is indeed a very positive development