The Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ White Paper contains a pledge to “give every part of England that wants it a devolution deal with more regional powers and simplified, long-term funding.” But in terms of what the Conservatives are calling a ‘devolution revolution’ it is all very confusing. The associated press release claims that it represents the “biggest shift of power from Whitehall to local leaders in modern times” offering ‘London-style’ powers and a mayor. The role of London Mayor is associated with…

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The Government claims that it has a ‘defining mission’ to ‘level up’ by “tackling the regional and local inequalities that unfairly hold back” so many parts of the UK. The long-awaited devolution White Paper – re-engineered as a ‘levelling up’ policy document – was published last Wednesday. It is massively, predictably, disappointing. The Guardian newspaper described the White Paper as “anaemic and inadequate,” The Economist magazine said it ‘falls short’ and “fails to devolve enough power and…

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The new administration at the unitary authority has just issued a press release celebrating that Cornwall “delivered the second-highest number of affordable homes in ‘England’ in 2020-21.” This followed the publication of figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which shows that a total of 814 affordable homes had been completed to the west of the Tamar last year. The press release was similar to another one from 12 months ago, put out by the previous administration, when…

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