As mentioned in my previous post, here’s what I set out to the County Council in last Thursday’s debate on the proposal for us to join the Devolution Priority Programme. You can find the full webcast of the debate on KCC’s website.
KCC has also set up a devolution webpage, with some explanations, links to documents and a video that I have recorded about devolution.
This is the most momentous decision for this Council in many, many years. It is a decision for Cabinet, and Cabinet will meet later today to take it. But for a decision of this kind, it is right that County Council considers it in full and that all Members are engaged.
We have got here through a strong partnership, on a cross-party basis, with our colleagues in Medway and an inclusive approach to working with District and Borough Councils that is matched in few if any parts of the country.
The question before us is whether or not we, along with Medway Council, apply to join the Devolution Priority Programme, resulting in the creation of a Mayoral Combined Authority and a mayoral election in May 2026. Everything else flows from that choice.
I believe we should.
That is because:
Devolution is coming. The only question is how far we shape it, or let others shape it for us.
It is, or soon will be, a reality across the country. Others are moving fast.
And there are great opportunities for us, and for the residents we represent, in devolution. We need to seize them.
Mayoral devolution is a very settled government policy. It was the policy of the last administration. Within a fortnight of the new government being formed, a letter from the Deputy Prime Minister to local government leaders made clear that this was their policy too, and in a more comprehensive and systematic way.
At the LGA conference, the minister, Jim McMahon, made it utterly clear that this was a structured policy for England as a whole – with no orphan areas.
And in local government reorganisation, which came up fast on the rails in the weeks before the publication of the White Paper, all remaining two-tier areas are expected to submit initial unitary proposals by March. Whether you are in the Devolution Priority Programme or not, that issue is going to be on the table.
I think we know that change is coming. And who here, in their heart of hearts, believes – really believes - that in three, four, five years’ time we will be carrying on just as we are?
So the sooner we engage with this, the more scope we have to shape it. The sooner we engage, the sooner we can give the clarity that we owe to our residents, our staff and our organisations.
We also need to look beyond our own boundaries. Over the last decade, and steadily gathering pace, mayoral authorities have become part of the national landscape.
Look at a map, and draw a line from the Mersey to the Wash: almost everything north of that, with Cumbria the main exception, either has or is on track for a mayoral authority.
And now we know that across the south, and among our neighbours, letters are going in to apply to the Devolution Priority Programme. That map is likely to look much more complete, and pretty soon. Every one of those areas with access to the powers, the funding and the national voice that Kent would be missing out on.
And above all, we should enter the Devolution Priority Programme because of those benefits – why should we not secure them for the nearly 2 million residents of Kent and Medway as quickly as possible?
And if we do take that step, the final part of the recommendation today notes the implications of joining the Devolution Priority Programme for the County Council elections.
This is not something that we initiated
It is not something that we will decide
It is not something that I relish
In his letter of 16 December, the minister stated that, to deliver both devolution and reorganisation according to the exacting schedules of the Devolution Priority Programme, he was minded to lay secondary legislation to postpone local elections from May 2025 to May 2026.
That decision will be made by ministers, but they require a request from councils for this to be considered.
I recognise that this goes against the grain for all of us whose role here rests on our democratic electoral mandates. But across the country there are many precedents for postponement when you have profound structural change – we saw several at the time of the 2021 elections – and we must be clear that this is not an indefinite extension of County Councillors’ terms, running for up to three years beyond our mandate. That would be neither acceptable nor feasible, and there are different options under which we stick to a much more tightly limited deferral.
It is clear that there is a very tight link indeed between participation in the DPP and the decision that the minister is minded to take. It is also hard, if not impossible to see how supporting a government-led consultation that would run very close to, or quite probably into the pre-election period, developing reorganisation proposals and negotiating with government can be carried out according to what the minister calls ‘the most ambitious time frame’ in a pre-election and election period.
So submitting that request is a logical corollary of joining the DPP, and if we make the application to join then it is my intention to submit that request to government, which ministers will then decide.
We don’t need to be cheerleaders for every aspect of this process, least of all the timetable. I’m also utterly realistic about how government departments will fight to hold on to their powers. We have got to establish the right relationship between a strong mayor and strong unitary authorities, complementing each other’s roles. There are huge risks and challenges in relation to reorganisation. There are some real questions as to how bigger councils can still be local, and – yes – there are losses, not least the one hundred and thirty six year history and identity of this council.
But however glorious that past, our present is unsustainable. We cannot go on as we are. Because of national policy decisions – for example, the loss of strategic planning – and the constant pressure of people services, we don’t have the funding, the capacity or even the headspace to be the strategic authority that Kent needs. The same goes for upper tier authorities up and down the land.
That is what I have seen in my years in this place. And that is why, more than two years ago, I changed my mind about mayoral devolution.
A Mayoral Strategic Authority – on the building block of an elected mayor and of strong unitary authorities – has the space to deliver that strategic role in transport, planning, economic development, public service reform - while kept separate from the people services pressures that consume councils.
The devolution offer builds on, but goes beyond what was put forward by the previous government. More powers in transport, including – critically – rail. In skills and employment, where in Kent and Medway we have a successful base to build on with the Employment Task Force and our relationship with DWP. In strategic planning, which we desperately need to ensure that, where there is development, the infrastructure comes with it. And Kent and Medway is perfectly placed to maximise the benefits of public service reform – joining up services, getting the best value for the Kent pound, building a partnership with greater democratic input with the NHS – because of our common boundaries with police, fire, health and more.
With that come dedicated investment funds, and more importantly a decisive move away from the competitive, penny piece funding pots that we have all deplored to much greater discretion and – after we achieve Established Mayoral Strategic Authority status – the integrated settlements pioneered by Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. We can catch up with those trailblazers, and fast.
The government has said that these powers – and there’s a lot there – are a floor and not a ceiling. Let’s take them at their word and put that to the test.
It is those round the national table who will shape the future development of devolution. I want Kent’s voice in that debate, and as soon as we establish a Mayoral Strategic Authority, we will have that voice through membership of the Mayoral Council and the Council of Nations and Regions.
To end where I began, the fundamental decision before us – whether or not to apply to the Priority Programme – is as big a choice as any we have confronted in our service here.
In approaching that choice, I say to all Members:
Recognise that we cannot go on as we are
Lift our eyes to the opportunities of something different and better
And resolve that we, in this county, seize the moment and shape that future.
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