Devolution can finally let the North 'take back control': Henri Murison

Could the North finally be starting to take back control? No, I don’t mean Brexit (but more on that later) – I mean devolution. For many years devolution was rarely discussed outside local government. Recently, however, something has shifted.

By Henri Murison

Published 2nd Jan 2023, 05:45 BST

Businesses are seeing the benefits of empowered local leadership for their own priorities. Activists are becoming louder in their calls for decision-making to be brought closer to communities. They want locally-led, joined-up policy-making that understands the unique opportunities and challenges of each city region.

For decades, politicians and civil servants in Whitehall and Westminster dominated but now mayors are in the ascendancy.

At the start of December, Gordon Brown, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves came to Leeds to unveil Labour’s plans for devolution, which they said would constitute “the biggest ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people”.

Labour recently unveiled their devolution proposals in Leeds.