‘We need a sovereignty shift’

We need a chapter change in the British political culture and structure. That means many things including a reorientation of the political economy towards a strength and resilience built on the reduction of inequality and increase of inclusion. It means putting social, health and environmental justice in all policy. It means making a commitment to the strengthening of our democracy through voter registration, political literacy and citizenship programmes.  But for the purposes of this blog I want to focus on the need to rebalance sovereignty, away from the national government in Westminster to our cities and regions. 

We are one of the most centralised countries in Europe. It’s a reality I have heard repeatedly shared. But it’s in taking up political leadership and contending for the interests of Bristol that the full weight of this fact is to be felt. If local democracy and devolution are to be anything more than an elaborate charade, we need a change that makes an unbreakable connection between city votes, city politics and city control.

The decision by Ministers to delay the electrification of the train line to Temple Meads is a case in point.  Bristol was not consulted before the decision was made. The Buses Bill’s potential inclusion of Clause 21 rules out the establishment of municipally owned bus companies. The limited power of cities over private bus services. The fact that the NHS and many of our schools are not accountable to the city but to a London based minister. We have the dominance of central government’s definition of “affordable housing” and the centrally driven rules that make it hard for local authorities to get the affordable homes. And these recent weeks I have been meeting people across the city as part of our budget consultation and we face funding cuts that leave us asking citizens to help us choose the least worst options from an unpalatable menu.  

If we are going to both make our city democracy real and be released to deliver for our city, central government must make space for us to take hold of the levers of power. Housing, health, education, transport – these are the fundamentals we must be able to use our local expertise to shape if we are going to get real progress.

I met with leaders from the Core Cities and Key Cities today and made this point. We need a sovereignty shift that means something rather than cities second guessing what government may or may not want on whom they may bestow their favour. At the moment we are waiting on the Autumn Statement with baited breath to see if government will give us anything to enable us to support our populations and drive our economies. This is all wrong.  It infantilises cities, builds a trickle down system of sovereignty and leaves us holding what some have called an unresourced mandate.

Cities should not be wrapping themselves around central government.  Central government should be understanding and wrapping themselves around what cities need to be able to flourish. Votes for MPs are not more important than votes for councillors and mayors.  Our democracy needs to catch up with that.

There are a number of other benefits I would suggest come from delivering this rebalancing of sovereignty.

I suggest the ability to demonstrate effective local political delivery is one of the bulwarks against the wave of reactionary nationalist right wing politicians manifest in people such as Farage. There is complexity but there are identifiable themes within this wave: you can’t get paid, you can’t get services, politics is a waste of time. City politics is best placed to redress these themes because its understanding of local populations and close proximity to everyday life make it possible to connect political leadership to demonstrable outcomes in a way central government cannot.