Devil will be in the detail of the Government’s plan to rewire the state - Carl Les

There is much to commend in the thinking behind the ‘Rewiring the State’ document, the most recent Prime Minister’s approach to a new model of government for England. Initially we must leave aside any criticism that the devil will be in the detail, and a lot of the detail will not be known until a White Paper is released at Budget time in the autumn, or that changes will take time to be introduced as the supertanker that is central government changes course.

The principles behind the statement are sound, removing the most centralised form of governance in Europe; reducing the size, cost and any negative controlling influence of the central civil service; reforming and offering potentially more stability to the way local and regional government is funded.

Of course it’s nothing new. The last government, Conservative that is, not the short-lived Starmer one, moved the devolution process forward for the three areas of Somerset, Cumbria and us, so benefitting York and North Yorkshire as a whole. And it did it in a non-partisan way removing the incumbent majority of numerous Conservative district councils in North Yorkshire as it streamlined local government, and resisting the proposal of an East/West split that proposed the political annexation of City of York without any consultation and would have left all the wealth in one half, and many of the structural problems in the other.

David Prescott, son of the former Labour Deputy Leader, writing in this paper two weeks ago about the benefits he sees of the fiscal devolution on offer, mentioned that his late father “championed the Northern Way because he believed the North achieved more when it worked together”.

I couldn’t agree more. John Prescott was a Northerner through and through. His son could also have mentioned that he had common cause, on this although certainly not on everything, with another political grandee who was not a Northerner in Michael, now Lord Heseltine. As a Minister Michael Heseltine relentlessly championed devolved investment decision-making in the North, talking constantly with local leaders of any party.

There have been many voices in this chorus, the majority calling for devolution and a number wanting to answer favourably, but this is probably the best opportunity we have had when the captain with considerable experience to guide him wants the ship of state to change course.

What is also encouraging is that the term growth is used frequently throughout the narrative. This is the fundamental driver for both economic and social wellbeing. It’s what governments should encourage, councils should enable, and fundamentally what Mayors are elected to champion working within combined authorities. All other activity exists and flows from sustainable economic growth.

There are challenges in some of the premises in the opening chapter. Control of the skills agenda is absolutely right but exists already. Promoting high-quality local technical and vocational routes, as opposed to academic pathways, levels up the opportunities on entering into the world of work, but unlike the narrative we have less youth inactivity and little long-term unemployment. We do need a critical mass to make tech and vocational offers viable, so that the offers will be made, and our economy needs more higher skilled employment opportunities rather than just more job opportunities.

Public control of buses is heralded as a great benefit. Our Mayor has very publicly stated his desire to have this control, and is spending a large sum of government grant on consultants to determine if it can be achieved. Having lived briefly in two great cities, Leeds and Glasgow, I’ve experienced the benefits that a well organised, busy, bus network can deliver. But how does this fit with rurality and sparsity? Small numbers of users, coming from multiple locations to go to different destinations for varying lengths of time, then returning at a convenient interval and all for a reasonable cost. This is a problem that the Council has wrestled with for years. It`s now clearly on the Mayor’s watch, and I wish him well in coming up with a solution that doesn’t just work for York, Scarborough or Selby.

A major change in local taxation will be the introduction of the Overnight Visitor Levy – what critics call the Tourism Tax – with the ability to levy this being given to all strategic authorities. Local leaders will be able to set out plans for how this levy can be invested by March 2028. This needs further scrutiny, for and against, as it could work against sustainable growth.

More support for the building of affordable to rent homes is welcome, as is greater control, certainly influence, on the spending of funding by the Arts Council and Sport England.

The biggest prize of all, but we have to wait until budget time for the details to be revealed, is the control offered over local tax gathering, business rates first then income tax the year after. It is unlikely that initially there will be any more money, but if it is a percentage then as mayors champion and grow their region’s economy, their core purpose, then more funding will be the reward.

Coun Carl Les is the Leader of North Yorkshire Council.