Berry: Watered down devo white paper will lead to ‘years of dither and delay’
Former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry has warned the government’s plan to ditch its power to force local government reorganisation will slow down or even stop progress towards devolution deals.
Jake Berry
Mr Berry was instrumental in the development of the government’s devolution white paper during his time at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government between 2017 and 2020.
As LGC reported last month, early drafts had proposed scrapping the principle of consent that requires unanimity between councils in areas looking to strike devolution deals. But this clause - which would have forced local government reorganisation due to ministers regarding it as a prerequisite to devolution in currently two-tier areas - is now understood to have been taken off the table.
A year has passed since Boris Johnson won his majority, promising in his victory speech to level up the regions outside of London and the south east by spreading opportunity to every corner of the UK. Twelve months on and the outbreak of Covid-19 has made achieving this goal both more difficult and more urgent.
The impending jobs crisis for low skilled workers is threatening to derail the levelling up project before it has even begun. To address this huge challenge, we need a radical shift in industrial policy and governance, giving places agency to invest in the industries that can provide the good jobs of the future.
Former Treasury minister Lord O’Neill has told LGC he believes the government will commit to “proper initiatives” related to the Northern Powerhouse next year, despite his disappointment that the spending review did not deliver on devolution.
Lord O’Neill, who is vice chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, was in talks earlier this year with the government about chairing a new Northern Powerhouse growth board that would be mandated to narrow the UK’s north-south wealth gap. He told LGC that based on very recent conversations he has had with those in government, he anticipates a “broad reset” is on the horizon when it comes to the Northern Powerhouse and the levelling up agenda, following the recent exit of the prime minister s top aide Dominic Cummings.