A council of nations and English regions is an insult to Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland

Stephen Price

With a backdrop of St George's cross bunting and the Union Jack, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met with English mayors to “set up a council for regions and nations”, drawing much praise from the UK press.

The Prime Minister announced that the newly formed government will establish a Council of Nations and Regions - bringing together the Prime Minister, the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, the First and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the Mayors of Combined Authorities

A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

New Mayors established through this process would be eligible to sit on the Council of Nations and Regions.

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Scribbles

During the meeting inside No 10 with 11 regional leaders, including Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and the only Conservative mayor, Tees Valley’s Lord Ben Houchen, the Prime Minister said: “We will set up a council for regions and nations.

Perhaps revealing too much, and that it’s all just scribbles on red white and blue post-its at present, he said: “Now I don’t want to overly formalise it, but I do want a degree of formality so that it’s a meeting that everybody knows is a meeting where business is done, where decisions are properly recorded and actioned.

“And where people know that we will all be there and we won’t be sending substitutes, or missing the meeting.”

Sir Keir added that the forum would be used to discuss “shared challenges” and “opportunities”.

Kick(start) in the balls

Today, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has pledged to kickstart this new devolution revolution to transfer more powers out of Westminster and into the hands of local people.

In her first letter to local leaders, Rayner will urge regions without devolved power to “partner with the government to deliver the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen”.

She will invite local leaders in devolution deserts - those with local knowledge and skin in the game - to work together to take on powers in areas like transport, adult education and skills, housing and planning, and employment support.

These new agreements will mean local leaders can make decisions that benefit their communities better, while boosting economic growth and opportunity.

Devolution is central to the government’s mission to boost economic growth, but only around half of the people in England currently benefit from these arrangements.

The letter from the Deputy Prime Minister makes clear that the government’s door is open to areas who want to take on devolution for the first time, with the government committed to encouraging more local authorities to come together and take on new powers.

In the letter, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: "For too long, Westminster government has tightly gripped control and held back opportunities and potential for towns, cities, and villages across the country.

"Last week, with the Prime Minister, I had the pleasure of meeting the metro Mayors in England. We discussed how to have a proper, grown up conversations around economic growth, and how to deliver that through better housing, skills, and jobs for local people.

"I want to work with more places to help them use these enhanced powers and role - because I want to drive growth in every part of the country. For any area considering it, now is the time to take the plunge and speak to us about how we can work with you to transform your regions."

Greater Manchester, one of the places where devolution has existed for the longest and powers are deepest, has been one of the UK’s fastest growing areas over the last 20 years and is forecast to grow by more than the national average in coming years.

This has been driven by powers allowing the Greater Manchester Mayor to encourage investment into the city, boost skills, and work towards an integrated transport system.

Growth

In other parts of England, Mayors have played a crucial role in attracting new investment - with major manufacturers such as Boeing and McLaren bringing new jobs to South Yorkshire, while West Yorkshire is now home to the UK’s fastest growing digital industry outside London.

OECD research suggests that if the autonomy of UK cities was to increase to the same level as Helsinki, then productivity would increase significantly.

Agreeing new devolution deals will mark a monumental shift of power away from Westminster into communities – giving those with skin in the game the power to make the best decisions for their people and make a difference to their lives.

The letter comes ahead of the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, which will build on the momentum of the government’s first week, by setting out how it will make a difference to the lives of working people.

Equal partners?

Writing for the Guardian, Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Mayor said: "The new council for regions and nations is the gamechanger for which we have been patiently waiting.

"It will mean that Whitehall departments will have to talk to us as equal partners in the running of the country, rather than talk down to us as they have long had a tendency to do."

So, Scotland and Manchester, Wales and Birmingham, equal partners? The citizens within them, of course, but a country and an English region?

And ‘the country’? Is that England or the UK?

Without wishing to play top trumps or state the absolute obvious, but for the benefit of Starmer and Rayner, English regions and countries are not one and the same.

Whilst stronger regional powers are of course a must, and a move from a London-only-centric powerhouse for the UK is more than welcome, the logic behind gathering leaders of nations together with eleven English Mayors isn’t abundantly clear to me.

Naturally, each of the regions of England are culturally different, but despite best efforts to distance themselves from those pesky Londoners and southerners, these combined authorities are still English, and their populations make up the vast majority of the populations of these isles.

Another platform for Welsh voices to be drowned out? Where do we sign?

So what of the nations? Do they get a bigger, comfier chair at the table than the Mayors? Do they get to wear a taller crown? And why do Mayors outside of England not get to chat around the cold buffet once ‘business is done’?

England needs its own devolved government, and then the leader of that needs to sit down with the other nations of the UK as equals.

Try reset one more time

Burnham himself writes: "In the space of one week, our new government has changed the weather and lifted the mood of the nation. Things are finally moving forward again.

"For the mayors, Whitehall doors that were slammed shut are suddenly springing open. It already feels like a new age of possibility and the dawn of a golden era for English devolution."

So, a new dawn and golden era for English devolution, but what of the token Celtic cohorts? Were we even asked how this might go down? I can’t quite make it make sense in my head, but my instincts are telling me that I’d rather we weren’t there.

Cross border power houses are an admission of our own country’s ineptitude, if that’s the unspoken aim - we can do much better than that. ‘Build your houses here for your workforce and population crisis there - marvellous idea!'

This new talk shop is a grand thing for a regional mayor, but is an insult to the outnumbered top dogs from the devolved nations.

Anything less than a devolved England sitting at the same table with the other nations of the UK in equal number just won’t cut it.

A council for regions and nations is a positive move for England's regions, but sounds very much like a downgrade in status for the component countries of the UK, and is a worrying sign for the ‘reset’ relationship we’ve been promised.

Let’s hope our next First Minister has a touch of Drakeford’s stubbornness and integrity about them (they needn’t have balls) and doesn’t just go along with this, whatever it might be - especially since Starmer doesn’t even seem to know what it is himself yet.

A reset between the UK and Welsh Government is long overdue, but this is nowhere near the one that Wales, and indeed the other nations of the UK, asked for.