Local authorities in the UK are among the least powerful in the continent.
Last Friday Centre for Cities hosted an event with the European Commission to examine the findings of both our recent Competing with the Continent report, and the Commission’s State of European Cities 2016 research.
One particularly interesting aspect of the presentation by the European Commission was their comparison of the varying degrees of autonomy enjoyed by local authorities in different European countries. In order to compare local government autonomy across the continent, the Commission has developed a Local Autonomy Index.
Unlike many other studies in this area, the index looks not only at fiscal autonomy (a field where UK local authorities are known to be weak, with currently only 18 per cent of their revenues raised locally), but also includes a number of other measures of local authorities’ autonomy, such as their policy scope, their ability to take on new tasks, their effective influence on policy delivery and the legal protection they benefit from.
For anyone with a passing knowledge of UK local government, it will probably come as little surprise that local authorities in the UK have relatively little autonomy compared to their European counterparts – ranking as the 4th least autonomous authorities out of 28 EU countries, with only Cyprus, Malta and Ireland home to less powerful local government. To illustrate this point further, UK local government scored 44.7 on the Commission’s index (the closest to 100, the more autonomous) – far below Nordic countries (with Finland and Denmark ranking highest on 75.9 and 71.9 respectively), Germany (71.6), Italy (64.7) and France (63.5).
Given the poor economic performance of UK cities compared to European counterparts, as shown in our Competing with the Continent report, this inevitably leads us to question what impact the relative lack of autonomy that UK cities enjoy has on their local economies. The answer to this question, however, is not straightforward, as the abundant literature on the potential correlation between decentralisation and economic growth tends to give various and potentially conflicting results.
But what is clear is that granting UK local authorities more of the powers that their European counterparts already enjoy would give them the chance to make decisions that better reflect the needs of local people and economies. It would also ensure cities have stronger incentives to invest on the key drivers of growth, such as skills, transport and housing. That will be crucial in helping UK cities start to address the productivity and skills gaps which are causing many of them to lag behind their continental rivals.
Explore all the data from our Competing with the Continent report on our European Cities Data Tool
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Jonas Torrens
While I agree with the assertion that UK cities are among the least autonomous in Europe, I find it worrisome the narrow focus on the effect on productivity and growth. Inclusion, Sustainability, the state of built environment, public health outcomes, etc., are all jeopardised by the lack of autonomy. In effect, I intuit that much of the discontent expressed towards Westminster is attributable to the sheer centralisation – and hence bluntness – of policy making in the UK.
So yes, please advance the case for autonomy; but please do so in a way that doesn’t reinforce a blunt obsession with growth and productivity.
Hugo Bessis
Hi Jonas,
The reason why productivity is mentioned here is to link these results to the findings of our previous report on European cities, where we found that UK cities were clearly lagging behind in terms of productivity. It is interesting to see those two finding reflecting each other, although it doesn’t necessarily mean there is a correlation.
The main point to me is that increasing local authorities’ powers and autonomy will give them the ability to step in and improve their local environment, for instance by implementing policies that are better tailored to local needs. The scope of action could definitely include those points you mention: tackling exclusion, promote sustainability (from a local government’s point-of-view I’m thinking sustainable planning and transport), and improve health outcomes – which I think are all, more broadly, drivers of growth.