That’s a hammer blow to plans to deliver growth and to get power out of Whitehall and back into local communities.
Shaun Roberts, Director of Campaigns, Unlock Democracy
When Labour came to power, devolution was at the heart of its plan to deliver growth. At last, there seemed to be a Government with the determination and political clout to turn the tide on decades of Whitehall stripping powers away from local communities.
By any measure, it had left England as one of the most centralised countries in the world.
Over three years ago, Keir Starmer set up the Commission on the UK’s Future to look at this problem. Chaired by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, it proposed the ‘biggest ever transfer of power out of Westminster’ to end the ‘Whitehall knows best’ culture.
Gordon Brown said that its measures would end the “dead hand of centralisation” which, he argued, was holding back economic growth. The report was warmly embraced by Keir Starmer at the time and we had high hopes that a Labour Government would implement many of its recommendations.
But 18 months on, something about the government’s priorities has changed.
Devolution plans have ground to a halt. May 2026 was supposed to see the election of a new wave of devolved Mayors from the Government’s priority programme, but these elections have now been put back by TWO years. And a year after the priority programme was announced, no further areas have been put forward for devolution. It’s clear that very little devolution will be delivered in this parliament.
That’s a hammer blow to plans to deliver growth and to get power out of Whitehall and back into local communities.
Instead of devolution, the priority has shifted to the biggest reorganisation of local councils seen in 50 years. All County and district councils are set to be merged into new unitary councils.
Whether this will save money is contested, the Government says it will, many experts say it will not. No one denies that it’s going to involve a lot of work at a time where Councils are more stretched than ever, dealing with the SEND crisis and rising demand for social care.
And there’s no doubt that it’s going to lead to yet more centralisation of power – the exact opposite of the devolution we were promised. In Surrey, the Government has decided that 11 district councils (and the county council) will be replaced by just two councils covering the county. Decision-making is moving further away from, not closer to local communities.
The brakes have been slammed on, nosediving the devolution intended to deliver growth and move power out of Whitehall.
Instead, it’s full speed ahead for a centralising, time-consuming local government reorganisation that may or may not save some money!
To say we’re mystified is an understatement, especially when we hear again and again that the Government’s priority is growth.
So the question here is why? Why has the Government’s focus shifted from devolution to local government reorganisation? There are three possible explanations.
Firstly, Labour’s commitment to devolution wasn’t as strong as it seemed. They have talked the talk, but are not walking the walk now they are in power.
Or secondly, fingers are being pointed at the Treasury. They are reluctant to hand over the funding needed to get devolution settlements off the ground. But with devolution supposedly driving growth, surely this can’t be the reason?
Or lastly, there is something deeper at play, where the dead hand of centralisation, beloved of Whitehall with its long history of distrust of local government, is suffocating much needed reform.
Whatever the rationale, the knee-deep claggy quagmire that is local government reorganisation is strangling or at least stalling the devolution England badly needs. Will Ministers step up to stop it?
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