Smart Devolution to Level Up

Discussion paper

Foreword by Deborah Cadman OBE

Whitehall has been circling the issue of devolution in England for years.  Despite governments of all colours talking about the importance of ceding further autonomy to local areas, a lasting settlement has proven elusive.  Why, now in the wake of the biggest national crisis in generations, do we need to revisit this issue?  Because this past year has demonstrated the instability of the status quo.  Achieving levelling up ambitions, and meeting net zero targets are – quite simply – impossible without taking a different approach.

This is not a zero-sum game.  It is not the case that empowered cities and regions means a weaker Whitehall.  On the contrary, by giving local leaders greater powers and resources, and changing our approach to support and accountability, we can build greater shared capacity to deliver national agendas. 

We shouldn’t for a moment underestimate the scale of these challenges.  In the West Midlands we have committed to reaching net zero by 2041, and detailed analysis on our routemap estimates this will require more than £15bn of activity over 20 years across domestic and commercial retrofit, reducing industrial emissions, greening our transport system, and changing how we use land.  And levelling up has been made even more difficult by Covid in our region, where our immediate future will be characterised by high levels of unemployment, exacerbated health inequalities both between ethnic groups and across our geography, and the impact of structural inequalities on our communities.  These challenges cannot – and should not – be addressed entirely from the centre.

My hope is that this discussion paper provides the Government with a practical route forward. The forthcoming Devolution White Paper will need to address broad questions on structures, powers, resources, and accountability – but we don’t need to do everything at once.  By focussing on the contribution of devolution to the Plan for Growth and Ten Point Plan, we can adopt a phased approach to a new settlement grounded in the immediate priorities of Number 10. 

The objective of the Commission is to identify how government can become more effective and more accountable: allocating resources more efficiently, designing and executing policy so that structural investment and public services are more keenly focused on the needs of users – be they citizens, communities or businesses.   Entering into a more strategic relationship with localities and regions is an essential part of the solution.