On London Extra: Power sharing
What does Andy Burnham exactly mean by devolution? Plus Farage's London networks, an Oxford Street transformation hint and more
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I’ve mentioned before that devolution and decentralisation are very different things. It’s nice to see that Lambeth-born David Lidington, a former Cabinet Office minister and de facto deputy to Prime Minister Theresa May, thinks so too. He’s told the Institute for Government that the PM Presumptive needs to get straight what he wants his promised Number 10 North operation to deliver. I quote:
“Does Burnham want de-centralisation, where mayors and councils take on more responsibilities and bigger budgets, but have to follow KPIs [Key Performance Indicators] and deliver outcomes set by the centre? Or does he want genuine devolution, with mayors free to do things differently – encouraging innovation but risking charges of a ‘postcode lottery’?”
Lidington regards those questions as unanswered at this stage, and with a fortnight to go before King Andy descends from Mount Manchester to liberate the regions from “London”, whatever he wants that word to mean this week, greater clarity would be handy.
