Devolution and Territorial Reform in England: Revolution or Chaos?

After being for a long time the ‘hole in the middle’ of the devolution process in the UK, England is now at the centre of a new programme of territorial reforms revolving around the idea of devolution deals aimed, allegedly, at ‘empowering’ local government and give them the levers to boost economic growth and prosperity. The former Chancellor George Osborne drove this agenda, and described it as ‘a revolution’ in the way in which England is governed, offering an opportunity to turn around decades of over-centralisation and economic disparities. Yet, this process is unfolding in a complex and uneven manner. ‘Devo deals’ have been agreed – often behind closed doors – on an individual basis between central government and newly established Combined Authorities of local councils. This has led to the creation of bespoke partnerships based on disparate geographies (from city-regions to counties), that do not cover the whole of England and are asymmetric in term of the powers and responsibilities devolved. Multiple, new, and often overlapping structures (Combined Authorities, ‘metro-mayors’, and broader agendas such as the Northern Powerhouse) are being introduced, and juxtaposed to an already over-crowded system of governance. Within this context, the public has been left at the margins, and local populations remain largely unaware of the way in which territorial structures are being reorganised in their areas. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to shed light on the political, democratic and economic consequences of the territorial local government reforms introduced by means of ‘devo deals’ in England, drawing on the case of Yorkshire. This area, in fact, seems to epitomise most of the controversies underpinning the current process of devolution underlined above. To achieve this, the paper will draw on: i) an analysis of official documents and devolution agreements/proposals across the region; ii) the findings of semi-structured interviews conducted with local leaders in Yorkshire in autumn 2016. It will be argued that, far from providing a sustainable system of territorial reform, devolution is still a ‘muddled’ process based on a centrally orchestrated patchwork of spatial ‘fixes’ that will not necessarily improve economic development or the functioning of local government and politics, and lack adequate public engagement as well as a clear roadmap.