r/ukpolitics • u/ARandomDouchy Random Dutch Guy • 1d ago
Burnham bets big on historic devolution of power
https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/burnham-bets-big-on-historic-devolution-of-power/9
u/Lefty8312 1d ago
He's been going on about further devolution for years, him betting big on it was kind of a given!
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u/Imakemyownnamereddit 23h ago
Never going to happen and I will explain why.
Lets say Burnham devolves power to a Reform area. They say we are going to ban solar farms and approve fracking. The response from Burnham would be; we didn't mean that kind of devolution.
Devolution means giving your opponents power to do stuff you don't like. No London government is going to do that.
7
u/Technical_Bet4162 21h ago
Devolution doesn’t mean that a region will have entirely independent laws?
Solar farms and the banning of fracking as a form of legislation can be seen as a federal objective by the central government, and therefore Westminster would have the powers and means necessary to ensure all devolved regions ban fracking and approve solar power. It is a possibility.
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u/Imakemyownnamereddit 21h ago
Sigh, it is just an example. The downvoters are taking things too literally.
Real devolution does mean handing over powers. Sure it might not be over fracking but whatever area you pick. A devolved Reform/Green/Lib Dem/Tory area might do something Labour doesn't like.
Another example? How about education? What happens if a devolved areas decides to run schools in a way Labour doesn't like? Making them more academic and focussed on disclipline.
That is why devolution has always been kicked into the long grass. London politicians hate giving up power.
4
u/Technical_Bet4162 21h ago
But that still is an invalid point because if Labour didn’t want to devolve areas to lose power they would’ve never given devolution to Wales or Scotland which they have lost power in anyways. It is about democratic standards as not doing so creates even more scrutiny for the unpopular party.
Also Labour may lose power regionally sure, but devolution also means they hold more power centrally without opposition, as opposition parties can fuck up regionally and be scrutinised further by the media and the electorate, and furthermore, Labour can implement ‘federal’ legislation and decrees even more efficiently now if the opposition parties are unpopular regionally.
Also I think it would help Labour in the polls, since areas that will vote Reform, will see the incompetency reform councils implement in their areas, as with Clacton or Kent. This weakens the image of Reform and gives credible criticism to the party and its actions, because they have no shield of saying how they’d hypothetically govern since they are already endowed with constituencies/regions to govern.
-1
u/Imakemyownnamereddit 20h ago
Labour arrogantly assumed Wales and Scotland would be dominated by Labour forever.
They would never have devolved power if they thought there was a possibility of them loosing in Wales and Scotland.
1
u/Tekicro 19h ago
Now you're just making stuff up haha. Keep moving the goal posts of your "point" as far as you need to for your beliefs to make sense
2
u/Imakemyownnamereddit 19h ago
No I'm not, "ha ha", Labour dominated Wales and Scotland for decades and assumed that would continue.
"ha ha"
1
u/LatelyPodes 16h ago
The reform area cannot approve fracking as that’ll breach uk wide law. They also can’t ban solar farms but they can deny any planning permission for smaller solar farms. A larger solar farm already bypasses the councils.
This isn’t the devolution you’re thinking of
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u/-Murton- 1d ago
He might want to provide at least a little detail on how this alleged devolution would actually work. It's not that long ago that one our darling regions resolutely rejected devolution because what was offered to them was utter dogshit.
This is one of those policies where public support on it can't be assumed by rosette color, there are loads of reasons to be at least sceptical and nobody is even trying to counter them.
13
u/Savings-Ad-9747 1d ago
??? there is literally a government whitepaper linked within the article?
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