Mark Rogers, chief executive of England’s largest council, has warned that a narrow focus on whether Scottish MPs should vote on laws affecting only England could endanger the transfer of greater powers to local government.
Cities and regions in England, including greater Manchester, have called for devolution of power from Westminster to local areas, following the Scottish referendum on 18 September.
Rogers, chief executive of Birmingham city council, said debate about devolution should not focus narrowly on the West Lothian question of whether Scottish MPs should be able to vote on laws affecting only England. “From our perspective, the last thing we need is an internal debate in Westminster about a new form of centralised power within an English parliament,” he said. “An obsession with the mechanics of Westminster voting risks placing real devolution back in the ‘too difficult box’ for another generation.”
Rogers, who is president of Solace, the society that represents local authority chief executives, told bosses at their annual conference in Liverpool this week that the Scottish referendum “embodied what we have known in local government for a very long time: that Westminster is too remote from the realities of our localities to be able to dictate what we should and shouldn’t do”. He urged council bosses to make a compelling case for why powers should be moved closer to local communities.
Martin Reeves, chief executive of Coventry city council, said local places needed to “get their act together” and demonstrate they could deliver services effectively. The best way to ask for greater fiscal devolution, greater planning powers and single budgets for local areas, he said, was by building up local economic growth and prosperity. He told the Guardian that asking for more devolution had to be “on the back of a track record in delivery at local level. “Talking about structures isn’t as important as delivering on the ground,” he said. “That is the reality.”
Solace also announced a shake-up of its top team, with Rogers staying on as president for a further two years and the appointment of 10 chief executives to comment on specific areas of public policy, including finance, digital leadership, resilience and community wellbeing.
In previous years, the organisation’s senior vice president has stepped up to become president, but Ged Fitzgerald, chief executive of Liverpool city council, who has held that post for the past year, is stepping down from the Solace board. Fitzgerald was chief executive of Rotherham council from 2001-03 and faces questions over the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
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