Labour’s big step forward on devolution

By Dame Tessa Jowell MP; Cllr Jim McMahon, Leader of Oldham Council; Cllr Keith Wakefield, Leader of Leeds Council; Cllr Sharon Taylor, Leader of Stevenage Council; and Cllr Nick Forbes, Leader of Newcastle Council

In Manchester yesterday Ed Miliband and key members of his shadow Cabinet sat down together with the Labour leaders of our great cities and regions to discuss how our party should tackle the challenges we all face. A meeting like this is still so rare as to be noteworthy – but that it happened shows that Labour understands acutely that for prosperity to spread in all regions of our country, we must empower our cities and regions by adopting devolution by default. This means that for every public service, Labour must devolve power as close to the ground as possible. Unless the evidence clearly shows that a service is best run from Whitehall, it should automatically be run locally.

That our country faces many challenges is clear – an ever increasing deficit, a shortage of housing, inadequate public transport and the waste of unemployed young people. Finding solutions to these problems requires bold leadership, a clear vision of what needs to be changed, and drive and determination to improve the lives of all our people. Ed Miliband has these qualities. And so do many leaders in local and regional government – and it is by strengthening their leadership that Labour can help the communities in these cities and regions to meet the challenges of change.

Ed Miliband’s commitment that a Labour government under his leadership will go further than the current Government in devolving taxation, integrating health and social care at a local level, and devolving powers to both our cities and county regions is a welcome step. But it must be seen as a first step on a journey to much greater devolution, not the end in itself. London’s experience of devolved power points to three lessons that Labour must pay attention to.

Firstly, that devolving power really can dramatically improve public services. Labour’s decision to allow the rest of the country to follow the example of Ken Livingstone’s enhancement of London’s bus transport shows that we see how giving local authorities control over public transport will dramatically improve services.

Secondly, that the success of devolving power will inevitably lead to a demand for more. There is a broad consensus in London that it must have much more control over key areas, such as housing, skills, and benefits, and that this must be underwritten by more devolution of funding from Whitehall and Westminster. The work of the London Finance Commission, commissioned by the current Mayor and carried out by Tony Travers of the London School of Economics offers compelling evidence. Adopting its recommendations will better equip London to meet these challenges, and contribute to the savings that must be made to reduce the deficit. There is no starker example than housing, where rather than wasting seemingly endless billions on housing benefit – most of which goes into the pockets of private landlords – London should instead be using that same money to build more homes and reduce the pressure on housing benefit at source.

But the third lesson is the most important – that devolution works, and that we risk embedding inequality unless all cities and regions of the country are given equal powers. London has benefited hugely from devolution and will do even better in the future with more. The rest of the country cannot be left behind with an ever-widening gap between the prosperity of the capital and everywhere else. Not only is this unhealthy for the whole country, but it leads to ever greater demand for services in London as more and more people move to the capital to find work. Labour must commit to devolving the same powers to all cities and regions of England.

We believe every region and great city of England must be given the opportunity to grow, generating more jobs and more economic prosperity for all. Yesterday’s announcements from Ed Miliband should be seen as a first step towards the ultimate aim of giving our cities and regions the power to shape every public service possible. It’s time for Labour to commit to devolution by default.