Harriet Cross is an Assistant Whip and the Conservative and Unionist MP for Gordan and Buchan.
Bringing decision making closer to those it most impacts is a good thing.
Indeed, it was Lady Thatcher who said “We believe in devolution. We believe that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the people whom they affect.
But it is a grave mistake to belief that simply moving powers, or ‘levers’ as policy decision makers like to call it, from one building to another is the solution. This is a trap that already, just a few weeks into the top job, Andy Burnham looks to be falling into.
The new PM seems to think that simply by handing away responsibilities, so they sit elsewhere, with someone else, he can fix the many and complex problems facing this country.
Ensuring that communities are heard, represented and have a degree of control and say over what is best for their area is crucial. But there is little evidence to suggest that doing so from 250 miles away is necessarily better than making them from 500 miles away.
Take the Scottish Parliament as a prime example. Too often the tendency in Westminster has been to ‘devolve and forget’. With ministers in London giving Holyrood and the Scottish Government more powers with the assumption that they will be administered, delivered and handled in the best interests of all of Scotland.
If that was the case, why is Scotland’s NHS in permanent crisis mode?
Why have educational attainment standards plummeted?
Why does Scotland have the worst drug deaths crisis in Europe?
Why, as historically a proud ship building nation, can Scotland not build ferries fit for our island communities? And why are key roads across the country still not dualled after nearly two decades of promises?
It is because this is not simply a question of money, or where decisions are made, whether that be north of the border rather than the south. It is a question of priorities and accountability.
What the new Prime Minister may well come to learn, to his peril, is that until his priorities are aligned with the leaders of the devolved regions that he wants to hand more powers to, the outcomes may not be as positive as he envisages.
Again, consider Scotland. The Scotland Act is very clear as to what matters are devolved to the Scottish Parliament and those reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Holyrood is meant to run the NHS, our schools and transport services. Westminster deals with foreign affairs, defence and the constitution. But that doesn’t stop the SNP government in Edinburgh straying from their lane.
Just last week, they announced they were sending £500k of Scottish taxpayer money to Palestine. They’ve spent £27.5m on so-called ‘embassies’ abroad despite having no powers over foreign affairs. And they’ve spent several million on independence preparations since their cause was decidedly rejected in 2014.
These are just some examples of where the SNP government has used the cover of devolution to push their own divisive agenda while Scots suffer. Devolution is meant to bring power closer to the people to benefit them. But we must ask, who in Scotland benefits from the Scottish Government spending money on pet projects outside of their devolution competencies while our NHS is on its knees?
There is also a tendency for devolved powers and decision making to get stuck at Holyrood, meaning regions like mine in North East Scotland (150 miles north of Edinburgh) feel just as far away from the decision making as if they were being made in Westminster (400 miles south of Edinburgh), Manchester (200 miles south) or elsewhere.
Devolution is an easy sell – but the accountability part?
That is too often overlooked
These lessons from Scotland should not be ignored by Andy Burnham either. No matter how responsible the SNP government is for the countless messes it has made in Scotland, they always find someone or something else to blame.
Scottish councils being underfunded? The SNP blame Westminster. Scottish schools failing? It’s the Tories fault. Prisons at maximum capacity? Someone else did it.
They never mention the twenty percent union dividend that Scotland gets via the Barnett Formula. Meaning that Scotland’s overall funding is often around 20 per cent higher per person than spending in England. But the problem is not so much the system as those administering it.
There is no reason to believe that the ‘blame game’ the SNP love to utilise wouldn’t spill over into different areas if the Prime Minister commits to increased regional devolution across England.
When local needs cannot be met, no matter the reason, be those genuine constraints, or mismanagement at a local level, it will always be the UK Government that local leaders point the finger.
Devolution may appear to be a liberating exercise, bringing power closer to more people. But if that power, decision making and resource ends up concentrated in just another office, assembly or even parliament in another part of the country, the benefits for communities will be very hard to find.
As the new Prime Minister embarks on this new devolution agenda – he would do well to keep in his mind the suite of powers devolved to politicians at Holyrood and ask himself if people across the whole of Scotland are feeling the benefits.
Harriet Cross is an Assistant Whip and the Conservative and Unionist MP for Gordan and Buchan.
Bringing decision making closer to those it most impacts is a good thing.
Indeed, it was Lady Thatcher who said “We believe in devolution. We believe that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the people whom they affect.
But it is a grave mistake to belief that simply moving powers, or ‘levers’ as policy decision makers like to call it, from one building to another is the solution. This is a trap that already, just a few weeks into the top job, Andy Burnham looks to be falling into.
The new PM seems to think that simply by handing away responsibilities, so they sit elsewhere, with someone else, he can fix the many and complex problems facing this country.
Ensuring that communities are heard, represented and have a degree of control and say over what is best for their area is crucial. But there is little evidence to suggest that doing so from 250 miles away is necessarily better than making them from 500 miles away.
Take the Scottish Parliament as a prime example. Too often the tendency in Westminster has been to ‘devolve and forget’. With ministers in London giving Holyrood and the Scottish Government more powers with the assumption that they will be administered, delivered and handled in the best interests of all of Scotland.
If that was the case, why is Scotland’s NHS in permanent crisis mode?
Why have educational attainment standards plummeted?
Why does Scotland have the worst drug deaths crisis in Europe?
Why, as historically a proud ship building nation, can Scotland not build ferries fit for our island communities? And why are key roads across the country still not dualled after nearly two decades of promises?
It is because this is not simply a question of money, or where decisions are made, whether that be north of the border rather than the south. It is a question of priorities and accountability.
What the new Prime Minister may well come to learn, to his peril, is that until his priorities are aligned with the leaders of the devolved regions that he wants to hand more powers to, the outcomes may not be as positive as he envisages.
Again, consider Scotland. The Scotland Act is very clear as to what matters are devolved to the Scottish Parliament and those reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Holyrood is meant to run the NHS, our schools and transport services. Westminster deals with foreign affairs, defence and the constitution. But that doesn’t stop the SNP government in Edinburgh straying from their lane.
Just last week, they announced they were sending £500k of Scottish taxpayer money to Palestine. They’ve spent £27.5m on so-called ‘embassies’ abroad despite having no powers over foreign affairs. And they’ve spent several million on independence preparations since their cause was decidedly rejected in 2014.
These are just some examples of where the SNP government has used the cover of devolution to push their own divisive agenda while Scots suffer. Devolution is meant to bring power closer to the people to benefit them. But we must ask, who in Scotland benefits from the Scottish Government spending money on pet projects outside of their devolution competencies while our NHS is on its knees?
There is also a tendency for devolved powers and decision making to get stuck at Holyrood, meaning regions like mine in North East Scotland (150 miles north of Edinburgh) feel just as far away from the decision making as if they were being made in Westminster (400 miles south of Edinburgh), Manchester (200 miles south) or elsewhere.
Devolution is an easy sell – but the accountability part?
That is too often overlooked
These lessons from Scotland should not be ignored by Andy Burnham either. No matter how responsible the SNP government is for the countless messes it has made in Scotland, they always find someone or something else to blame.
Scottish councils being underfunded? The SNP blame Westminster. Scottish schools failing? It’s the Tories fault. Prisons at maximum capacity? Someone else did it.
They never mention the twenty percent union dividend that Scotland gets via the Barnett Formula. Meaning that Scotland’s overall funding is often around 20 per cent higher per person than spending in England. But the problem is not so much the system as those administering it.
There is no reason to believe that the ‘blame game’ the SNP love to utilise wouldn’t spill over into different areas if the Prime Minister commits to increased regional devolution across England.
When local needs cannot be met, no matter the reason, be those genuine constraints, or mismanagement at a local level, it will always be the UK Government that local leaders point the finger.
Devolution may appear to be a liberating exercise, bringing power closer to more people. But if that power, decision making and resource ends up concentrated in just another office, assembly or even parliament in another part of the country, the benefits for communities will be very hard to find.
As the new Prime Minister embarks on this new devolution agenda – he would do well to keep in his mind the suite of powers devolved to politicians at Holyrood and ask himself if people across the whole of Scotland are feeling the benefits.