We don’t need no devolution

As North East England prepares to elect its first regional mayor, Mo Lovatt argues that adding extra layers of government doesn’t bring ‘power to the people’ – it takes it away.

Tomorrow, voters in North East England will go to the polls to elect a regional mayor. The idea is that - just like Andy Burnham in Manchester, Ben Houchen in Tees Valley and Andy Street in the West Midlands - the mayor will become a figurehead for the region, championing the North East and lobbying for government support. There are ongoing negotiations about giving the region the same devolution ‘trailblazer’ status as Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

The trouble is, not only did voters in the North East not vote for this, they decisively voted against it. And as I discovered at a recent meeting of Newcastle Politics in Pubs (PiPs), there is still plenty of scepticism.

In 2004, in a referendum on Labour’s proposal to create a regional assembly, voters rejected the idea, with a resounding 78 per cent voting against, on a respectable turnout of 48 per cent. At the time, campaigners for a regional assembly put the result down to a variety of reasons – from people’s mistrust of politicians to the deal being undersold – a cloth-eared reaction to such a strong vote against, on a percentage turnout we are unlikely to see repeated this time.

For anyone involved in the Brexit campaign or grassroots politics today, it is obvious that many ordinary voters do not want yet another layer of government, whether that be in the form of regional assemblies or transnational forums like the EU. Time and again, voters have told the powers-that-be that they want centralised government, a sovereign parliament and, most importantly, democratic accountability.

Lacking in political vision and devoid of any ideas about how to transform society, politicians of all stripes continually seek to outsource decision-making, avoiding responsibility for their policies and accountability for the decisions they make. Ironically, while regional devolution looks like passing power ‘closer to the people’, it is actually yet another attempt to shut the electorate out.

Despite the lack of interest from the electorate, the political elite’s drive to devolve power continues unabated. In the North East, for example, despite public opposition and the resounding rejection of the idea in 2004, there was a further attempt to create a mayoral combined authority in 2015, which collapsed due to local disagreements, but then a more modest devolution deal was made in 2018, taking place behind closed doors and without input from the electorate. This led to the creation of a North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA), which became a stepping-stone for the new arrangements that will see the whole of Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham join the assembly, a constituency of some two million people.

There has been the odd example of voters’ views being heard. For instance, when Bristol voted in 2022 on keeping its mayor, 59 per cent voted against. This has led to the current mayor, Marvin Rees, stepping down this week.

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In March this year, members of our Newcastle Politics in Pubs group invited the Conservative mayoral candidate, Guy Renner-Thompson, to explain what regional devolution will mean for the North East.

The North East mayor will get more powers from Westminster, he explained, and more money to spend on things like transport, infrastructure, adult education and housing. It is estimated that the deal could be worth over £4 billion for the region over a 30-year period. Another key transport power could be the ability to bring bus services under public control through a franchising system – similar to the scheme introduced by the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.

When members of the group expressed concern – even anger – about the fact that devolution has been foisted upon us, top-down, despite having been rejected in 2004, Guy pointed out that the plan was in the Conservative Party manifesto and that the democratic mandate for the deal comes from elected councillors taking part in negotiations that led to the final agreement. One of our members, a former councillor for Gateshead Council, pointed out that his council had been extremely reluctant to join the combined authority, but felt compelled to do so for economic reasons. To get a slice of the pie, local authorities simply had to concur.

Guy was an amiable debater, and we were glad he was at least willing to come and debate with us. He stated his own priorities are to get better support for small businesses, skills training to ensure new jobs go to local people, and even recognised the importance of not penalising motorists while the public transport networks are improved. This chimed well with many of our members, unlike the assertion from the BBC that the biggest issue for regional mayors will be how to reach ‘net zero’ by 2030!

And, at least there was a debate. Across the media this week, there has been little debate about the democratic mandate for the move, with journalists and pundits simply wondering whether the electorate will even turn out to vote. Guy’s experience on the campaign trail bore out this concern. He found that business leaders were very enthusiastic about devolution, while most ordinary people weren’t even aware the vote was taking place.

It is fair to say that most of the Newcastle PiPs members were sceptical about the idea that devolution will ‘bring greater power and control back to the people’ having witnessed the disastrous consequences of devolution in other parts of the UK. Our major concern was that devolution will simply create another level of bureaucracy and administration, making it harder for people to hold their politicians to account. People want big ideas, politicians who listen, and practical problem-solving in a country that increasingly feels broken. We were highly sceptical that North East devolution will solve these problems. Whether or not people turn out to vote remains to be seen.

Guy Renner-Thompson (Conservative) will be competing against Paul Donaghy (Reform), Jamie Driscoll (Independent), Andrew Gray (Green), Aidan King (Lib Dems), and Kim McGuiness (Labour).

Thank you to Guy and his team for coming to talk to us, to Newcastle PiPs co-founder, Paula Lightfoot, for writing comprehensive notes on the meeting, and to Newcastle PiPs members for the debate itself. 

If you want to come along to any future meetings, they are held on the first or second Tuesday of the month at the Telegraph Pub in Newcastle. You can follow us on X at @PiPsorgNEor check out the national website for the initiative here.