The forthcoming English Devolution White Paper will be an important milestone for economic growth and public service reform. The Government is correct to see devolution within England as a priority, and the political debate over devolution is picking up in response.
The central question the White Paper must answer is the geography of English devolution. The geographies of local government are a controversial topic, and a pragmatic approach from Government as it seeks “simpler structures that make sense for their local areas” is sensible.
Centre for Cities believes that an economic geography approach to English devolution would be the most pragmatic.
An economic geography approach will require tough decisions. But there is a risk that alternative “easy” approaches that avoid the tough decisions on geography risk making local government much more complicated without many of the benefits of reform.
The English Devolution White Paper should aim towards the map informed by economic geography set out below. It proposes a simple system of combined authorities for the big cities and large county unitaries – with the powers of local authorities and combined authorities – for the shires. Almost half of the 48 proposed metro mayor and county are authorities with either the same or are the “obvious” reform (e.g. Leicester and Leicestershire) for devolution.
Figure 1: Centre for Cities’ proposed map for English local government
Source: Centre for Cities (2024)