Dr Paolo Dardanelli, an expert in decentralisation and democracy at Kent’s School of Economics, Politics and International Relations, comments on the potential implications of the UK Government’s decision to pause local government reorganisation across the country:
‘The decision to suspend the reorganisation of local government in England is a major setback for the Burnham government, which has made devolution one of its main objectives. It is particularly damaging for Angela Rayner, who championed it under Starmer before being forced to resign and has returned to the front bench to spearhead it. It shows that the Labour government had not thought through the implications of the process and the potential for legal challenges to it.
‘The suspension throws up in the air the timetable for the reorganisation but also raises basic questions as to whether it will happen at all and if so in what form. The 2027 local elections will go ahead on the basis of the existing councils, and it now looks unlikely a reform will get the green light in time to be implemented before the end of this parliament, leaving it hostage to a potential change of government.
‘These procedural problems have grabbed the headlines but should not distract from the more substantive flaws in the plans, which have been widely criticised for creating very large local government units. Covering extensive areas, with very different social and economic conditions, these would be ‘local’ in name only, thus defeating the purpose of bringing government as close as possible to citizens. To be fair to the government, though, they would have at least brought greater uniformity in the structure of local government, which at present is an extraordinary patchwork of different types of councils and combined authorities in England – let alone the distinct systems in Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland. This makes the UK unique among democracies and hinders the ability of the political system as a whole to deliver for its citizens.
‘The challenge of squaring the circle between making the system more manageable and being sensitive to different local contexts thus remains, hence this suspension is only a pause on a long journey and difficult choices will soon have to be faced again.’
On Thursday 17 September, the Kent and Medway Business Summit will take place at the University of Kent. This will bring one of the first opportunities for local businesses to collectively discuss the region’s political uncertainty following the announcement that plans for Local Government reorganisation have been paused. For more information on the Kent and Medway Business Summit: https://www.kent.ac.uk/business-summit