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How Britain can bring power closer to the people


The general election redrew the demographic boundaries of British politics. The strong advance by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives into the erstwhile Labour heartlands of the Midlands and North of England leaves the governing party representing some of the nation’s poorest and most deprived towns. After “borrowing” Labour votes in support of Brexit, the prime minister has pledged to honour their trust by transforming areas of the country long described by apparent hopelessness.

The promise is long overdue. The austerity policies that followed the global financial crash fell disproportionately hard on provincial towns and villages that had already been badly weakened by the demise of traditional industries. More recently, economic recovery has been concentrated on London and other large metropolitan areas. Small coastal towns especially have fallen further behind — the absence of well-paid jobs matched by falling educational attainment and poor health provision and outcomes.

So sustained government attention — and more public funding — is essential. The market on its own cannot deal with the deep-seated economic and social problems of places such as Redcar or Blyth.

Mr Johnson is right to emphasise the need to direct more infrastructure spending into such towns. They need a bigger share of transport as well as training and further education budgets to reskill the unemployed and offer incentives to new private sector businesses. The relocation of government agencies could lead the way.

In the flurry of post-election excitement there has been rhetorical recognition of the need to bring decision-making closer to the people in these areas. Words must be translated into action. New initiatives such as free ports and town centre regeneration programmes should be put in the hands of those with local knowledge, expertise and accountability. Dying high streets and derelict industrial land cannot be revived by ministers and their advisers sitting in Whitehall.

That said, the government should not seek to reinvent the wheel. There is of course scope for creative thinking about new projects, but the spiral of neglect in many of these areas reflects in significant part the sharp cuts in local authority investment presided over by earlier Conservative administrations. The first ambition of Mr Johnson’s government should be to revive civic pride and engagement.

The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that local authority spending was reduced by 20 per cent in real terms in the decade after the financial crash. Community support groups, help for working parents, libraries, sports centres and support programmes for local businesses have disappeared. Many local authorities have been left with resources sufficient only to meet their statutory requirements to vulnerable groups of the young and elderly.

Mr Johnson likes to call himself a One Nation Conservative. This is a sobriquet he has yet to earn. He could take a big step in this direction by embracing the cause of Edmund Burke’s “little platoons” and restoring the funding and responsibilities of locally-elected representatives. Additional money from the centre should be accompanied by the scrapping of the present “cap” on revenues raised locally.

Appointing new regeneration “tsars” and rearranging the departmental furniture in Whitehall is no substitute. Restoring the fortunes of many of these towns will be a long-term project. By empowering local communities, the prime minister can show that it is more than simply another election promise.



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