Like many people outside the emerging city-state of greater London, I have never felt more distant from those ostensibly running England. This is emphatically not a whinge from the north, a kneejerk call, post-Scottish referendum, for devolution to our cities and regions. It is a plea for active government and a recognition that in some areas only the state – rather than nebulous proposals for “devolution” from either George Osborne or Ed Miliband – can deliver equity across the country.
As the chancellor’s autumn statement today will underline, these proposals are rarely supported by a recognition that town halls – facing a 43% drop in funding by 2020 – crucially need more fiscal autonomy and revenue-raising powers rather than pre-election promises. These will doubtless flow from the chancellor, underlining his apparent commitment – nonetheless welcome – to a “northern powerhouse” around Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.
Until relatively recently, mechanisms were in place – urban and regional policies, partly overseen by eight government offices around the country – to deliver at least a degree of equity across England. Once ministers, Conservative and Labour, governed for all the country, rather than for a narrow core constituency – in the Tories’ case, well-heeled shires and suburbs.
All those mechanisms disappeared after the last election. Urban policy bit the dust. Housing renewal areas in the north and the midlands were scrapped midway through programmes. Hope was abandoned. A whole regional apparatus disappeared, from eight regional development agencies to regional planning, housing strategies and government regional offices. Except, of course, in greater London.
The capital, truly set apart from the rest of the UK, already gobbles up the lion’s share of transport, or “infrastructure” funding. The trend is set to continue: £5,425 per head for London in the coming decades, compared with £1,428 in the north-west and a mere £223 in the north-east. London has retained its regional apparatus – lost everywhere else – while gathering both more power for its distinctive form of government and, of course, Treasury funding for grand transport schemes.
A recent State of the North survey by the IPPR North thinktank reported that growth in London over the past 10 years has been 20-25% higher than other regions – “leading many to conclude that the capital is indeed becoming ‘another country’”. It warned that that this disparity is put into stark relief when compared with mainland Europe. “The UK has by far the biggest gulf between its most productive and least productive regions,” it added.
This disparity – London versus the rest, and not just the north, – has been compounded by a local government funding formula, skewed towards more affluent parts of the country at the expense of urban areas including inner-London boroughs.
Why, then, has it taken the fallout from the Scottish referendum to prompt a vigorous debate about answering the English question: how to run a small country, overcrowded in its south-east corner, more effectively? Those arguing for greater devolution to restore equity in England are missing the point. Of course councils, and groups of authorities cooperating in city regions, should be given more freedom to raise money and coordinate local and central government services where appropriate.
But, as Nicola Sturgeon displayed in her first appearance as Scottish first minister last week, this is no substitute for an active state trying to deliver fairness – in Scotland’s case, for instance, a wide-ranging land reform agenda.
Even in these challenging economic times, England needs active government. It once had a wide-ranging regeneration agency, charged with renewing urban areas and partnering local government where necessary. It had an active regional policy. It had committed ministers from both major parties – Michael Heseltine, John Major and John Prescott, for instance – travelling the country. We felt they governed for all. Now, aside from a pre-electioneering chancellor – MP for Tatton, Cheshire – there is precious little. What a country. What a mess!
