Power play: How devolution will affect democratic accountability

With the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill now moving to the House of Commons, the topic of devolution dominated the Conservative’s conference with Osborne using his speech to announce a further addition to the “devolution revolution”.

The announcement to abolish the Uniform Business Rate and give local authorities the power to retain and vary business rates has made sure that devolution took many by surprise, and undoubtedly characterises the Government a lot more congenial to the will of local government when it suits them.

There is a consensus amongst MPs that there needs to be a radical change to the political landscape, returning power back as close to voters as possible. Ahead of the General Election, all parties had promised to devolve powers to local government to varying degrees.

The Conservative’s condition of devolution deals on the condition of putting in place a directly-elected mayor has proved a contentious one. With the current formation of the House of Lords, Labour and Liberal Democrat peers were able to secure a number of amendments to the Bill including one which removes the pre-condition of directly elected mayors in return for more powers – for the time being.

Concerns have also been raised with the concentration of power that the mayor will have. A CLG Committee session only on Monday saw the panel of witnesses express concern at the lack of scrutiny set to be put in place going by the current Bill.

Other key stakeholders have also raised concern at the prospect of facing policy areas devolved to local areas, distorting where accountability and responsibility truly lies.

The Bill will undoubtedly pass, however there are many voices both in Westminster and beyond who see the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill as the best opportunity in a long time to see real change on the ground, with real control placed back in the hands of local government.