It’s beginning to look as though Labour are either determined to demonstrate either that they are a) metrocentric (as opposed to London-and-wealthy-donor-Conservatives) or b) that they simply do not have any understanding of what goes on in the lower population-density rural areas of England. First there was the more-than-clumsy mishandling of the farmers’ inheritance tax issue (and I should stress that we share the view of many that the likes of Clarkson and Dyson should be taxed effectively, but the future of farming and food security is a big deal and making investment and succession planning harder is not a clever political move).
Now there’s ‘devolution’, which , it appears, is the impoverishment of rural areas for the benefit of towns and cities. It’s a different sort of ‘levelling up’ from the Tory version, but one that looks every bit as cynical as Sunak’s picnic pledge to Tunbridge Wellians. Here in the southwest, the political landscape is now dominated by Lib Dems and Tories hanging on by their fingernails (Mel Stride, for example, holding his Central Devon seat by a mere 61 votes). In Devon and Cornwall, Labour hold the big(for the west country!) conurbations – Plymouth, Exeter, Truro and Falmouth and the Plymouth commuter constituency of South East Cornwall. It’s hard not to conclude that their antipathy for the LibDems, fear of the Greens and less voter support have all been factors in their apparent disregard for other areas.
This ‘devolution’ thing is looking to be an absolute car crash for rural areas, with a whole rash of damagingly-impactful changes: housing bonuses removed, the dropping of the use of poverty indices to assess need for council spending and which factored in things like transport/travel time to deliver social care/get to hospitals etc. Now, apparently, there is magically no poverty and all the money is going (in the words of an insider) to Manchester and Birmingham etc.
Councillors from right across the county have protested against being absorbed into a unitary body. Meanwhile, Conservative-led Devon County Council, has called for the cancellation of this year’s elections in May (they would almost certainly have been booted out).
In the meantime, anxiety and uncertainty reign. Town clerks are WhatsApping each other in an attempt to find out what is going on. Local plans are no longer valid. South Hams has reserves, but is now unable to use any of that for local projects which were in the pipeline. It all has to go into the new county pot.
Labour-led Plymouth appear to be lining up to be a major unitary authority:
“Plymouth could be put into a super council with an elected mayor that covers all of Devon and Cornwall. Plymouth City Council is recommending that a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority is set up for an area with a population of 1.82 million people.
This would include Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay. If the strategic authority is given the go ahead, it is proposed that the first election for a mayor will be in May 2026, with the new authority “going live” in the spring of 2027.”
Plymouth Live
The Cornish are going to love that idea…
This ‘super’ council would also include all of that highly-dubious project, the freeport and all its promised riches.
A Green councillor for South Hams posted this on Facebook:
Following the Devolution meeting this morning at council – 6 things stand out in a sea of stupidity
1. Dismantling of local democracy – people who have just voted to bring in the Lib Dem’s for the first time in the South Hams will have their choice ignored and their representation cancelled – governance and services are being centralised and remotely controlled (also as DCC looking to cancel next elections, our area will be led by the Conservatives again and for the foreseeable)
2 – how expensive it’s all going to be – many millions of public funds in redundancies, restructuring, compensation etc etc
3 – SHDC is one of the biggest employers in the South Hams – the loss of jobs with all the following misery, economic downturn, loss of expertise etc is really concerning
4 – the two nearest devolved areas (Somerset* & Cornwall) are both broke, Somerset possibly going in to administration & not providing the services people need
5 – absolute lack of consultation, clarity, rationale (as Alastair Campbell put it ‘why pick a fight with something that works when you’ve got a million other problems’)
6 – loss of public services – district councils have a statutory duty to provide public services (playgrounds, leisure services, etc) that appears to be going – what will happen – towns and parishes will most likely be encouraged to take these on but where’s the money, the expertise, the people?? Who will clean the streets etc
And on and on…
Georgina Allen, Green Party, South Hams District Council
[*forced to go unitary by Jenrick against the wishes of the population as expressed in a vote]
Whilst another wrote:
“We will also find that SHDC services like leisure centres, public toilets, planning enforcement, parks etc will be cut once we are merged with DCC (or any part of it) because of budget pressures. The public needs to hear about the disruption that’s going to happen with this so-called devolution.”
South Devon MP, Caroline Voaden posted on Facebook:
“Devon County Council’s bid to cancel elections this May so that it can concentrate on reorganising local government is a shameless attempt to cling onto power and steal democracy.
The Conservatives lost control of three Devon Districts in 2023, lost seats on nine out of 10 councils, and then lost six Devon MPs in July last year. No wonder they are running scared.
It’s clear local government reorganisation is going to take place – and that will mean changes for South Hams and Torbay.
But this must not come at the cost of cancelling local elections on May 1st. We can manage to do both – and yes, it may mean the Conservatives are not in charge when the reorganisation takes place. But I am in no doubt that will be a good thing for Devon.
Devon County Council has been judged inadequate for years, and among other things has been consistently failing our most vulnerable children for a decade.
The fact that they want to cling onto power by cancelling elections is an outrageous ploy to steal democracy.”
Does devolution from Westminster appeal as a concept? Yes! Does local government need a major refresh? Almost certainly. Could it be simplified and streamlined? Again, almost certainly. Does it need more money? Desperately. Does it need better quality councillors? Very probably, in many cases, but that will mean compensating people properly, otherwise the talent pool will be constrained by work commitments and wealth. Is this no-consultation, steam-roller approach a smart move from Labour? No. Does it help restore dwindling faith in democracy? No. Does it play into the hands of the opportunistic, power-greedy vultures in Reform and Reform-lite (AKA Conservatives)? Yes.
Do better, Labour, for goodness sake! The sight of you aiming both barrels at both feet leaves us speechless. The vote on July 4 was a vote for positive change. Let’s see it!
