On London Extra: How should we fiscally devolve?
It's the question on everyone's lips. Plus Londoners not so liberal on policing, defining a 'fair share' of public spending, a lovely tribute to Penelope Keith and more
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Would Londoners have better lives if the Mayor of London, whoever he or she is, had more power than at present? Would greater numbers of Londoners be suitably, securely and affordably housed? Would more of them have good jobs that paid an acceptable wage? Would their health, transport, education and policing services get better? Would their street environments improve?
Plenty of wise people think the answer to all of the above is probably “yes”, that the same applies to other cities and that we should give it a try. This century has, of course, seen significant progress in that direction, starting with the creation of the Greater London Authority and with it the office of Mayor of London, which has generally been considered a success.
Other city Mayors have followed, and in a speech yesterday the now-former Mayor of Greater Manchester placed the idea of giving more power to Mayors and other political leaders based outside Westminster and Whitehall at the very centre of his approach to being Prime Minister - a position he is almost certain to attain in three weeks’ time.
Has the time, therefore, actually come for much bigger, bolder and deeper devolution - the redistribution of power from central government to regional and local government - to take place, fundamentally transforming the way the country is governed? Why would it be a good idea? How might it work?
