The Government must stick to its guns on devolution

While the travails of the Labour Party have largely dominated the media in recent months, it’s also been a tough eight weeks for the Government since the Budget in March – with the housing bill’s troubled passage through Parliament, Zac Goldsmith’s failed London mayoral campaign, and last week’s climb-down on plans to turn all schools in to academies.

Amidst these issues, it has largely gone unnoticed that the Government’s devolution agenda is also under pressure.

Opposition to devolution in East Anglia and the North East is hindering plans to introduce metro-mayors and combined authorities in those places, while new deals announced in the Budget for the West of England and Solent city-regions still need to be finalised – with the deadline to get them agreed in time for the planned metro-mayor elections in May 2017 looming.

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