Greater powers for regions and cities - Liberal Democrats Regional Conference to discuss

The RSA City Growth Commission's Devo Met report is an insightful contribution to the rapidly-moving issue of devolution to English city-regions. Liberal Democrats in the North East will be discussing the report and shaping our own policy proposals at our regional conference and AGM this weekend at Gateshead Quays.

The Devo Met report's finding that the North East Combined Authority may not yet be ready to take on more powers and responsibilities is significant, in my view. The organisation is newly formed and is still finding its feet. Whilst it may be in a position to do so in the near future, its maturity and accountability is still to be fully tested. The North East needs to be careful that other regions with better-developed governance steal a march when it comes to greater powers and resources.

The report identifies that the Greater Manchester area combined authority is more advanced and can be trusted more quickly with additional responsibilities. This can partly be attributed to the fact that the Manchester city-region got moving a lot more quickly than the North East did. It can also be attributed to the fact that the Authority has taken an enlightened view on the question of representation for opposition parties on the Labour-dominated member councils, enabling stronger scrutiny and broader input into its policy agenda. It also helps that the numerous member authorities are willing to co-operate in the interests of all, whilst still acknowledging the crucial role of Manchester.

At present the NECA governance arrangements are heavily dominated by Labour, with only one Lib Dem and one Conservative as token appointments on a scrutiny panel. There has also been a perception that over the years the principle of working together has sometimes taken a back seat to inter-authority rivalry and mutual mistrust amongst Labour leaders supposedly on the same side.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has recently hinted that more powers for Greater Manchester will only follow if it agrees to a "metro mayor". There are at least two difficulties with this. One is finding a figure of suitable stature who will meet with the support of both Tyne and Wear. There is also the clear rejection of city mayors (and a regional assembly) by the electorate in referenda

I believe that it would be advisable for the Government to consider an alternative requirement for city-region devolution: that additional powers and resources should be conditional on combined authorities having guaranteed multi-party representation, perhaps by including the leaders of the main opposition groups on the member councils. This would give more confidence and transparency than giving greater powers to a one-party grouping of leaders who have yet to prove they can use them wisely and effectively. They might go further in a quest to reinvigorate local democracy by considering proportional representation for local government, as has worked successfully in Scotland.

Finally, I am reminded of the contribution of David Miliband (whatever happened to him?) to the city-region devolution debate a few years ago. He identified the importance of "double devolution" which ensured that in addition to the sub-regional tier, councils also devolved decision-making downwards where appropriate.

There is a risk in the Devo Met debate that council leaders spend more time looking to the city-regional big picture rather than the local. It would be good to see a corresponding process of "neighbourhood devolution" allowing local people to shape local service delivery in areas like street cleaning, parks, and care services. Alas, recent experience in Newcastle suggests that this element is being overlooked by the council's leader, who can sometimes appear preoccupied with gathering greater power unto himself in his Combined Authority role.

This article is based on a letter from Cllr Greg Stone to The Journal newspaper