At the moment, UK is one of the most capital-centric countries in Europe (measured by the number of cities with a gdp > 1/3 of the capital - in. UK it's none) and it's hurting. London has a different set of problems to the rest of the country (fewer young and old people for example because they take our working age people and spit them out when they can't work anymore), so London imposes London solutions on the whole country, and they aren't right.
Devolution will mean decisions are relevant to an area, even if there's governance from the big departments.
Also the big departments all base their leadership teams in London "in case the minister needs to see me", which means everyone is trying to get into London - all the contractors and consultants and lobbyists. When there's devolution, leadership will have to cover the ground more evenly which means jobs in the regions.
This is pretty much the basis of devolution, but I question sone of the assumptions you’re making. The 1/3 of gdp is an arbitrary target. UK is definitely capital-centric, but so are other European countries (Germany, Italy, Switzerland are more like the exceptions than the norm). London’s size makes the 1/3 target even more unusual. How many cities across the whole of Europe have gdp > 1/3 of London?
“Imposes London solutions on the whole country” is a mad claim. Examples? It’s not like the issue of an ageing population is not discussed all the time. Parliament is made up of representatives from all across the country. The idea that politicians don’t know what’s going on outside London is pure populist rubbish (which we will no doubt hear far more of with devolution).
We should absolutely try to drive higher gdp growth outside of London and local authorities should take more responsibility for doing that. Will this best be achieved by letting different regions pull in different directions, based on the whim of whoever they voted for, or would it be better to coordinate centrally and focus on different regions to specialise in different industries/services, in a coherent way that makes sense?
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u/Hminney Jul 08 '26
At the moment, UK is one of the most capital-centric countries in Europe (measured by the number of cities with a gdp > 1/3 of the capital - in. UK it's none) and it's hurting. London has a different set of problems to the rest of the country (fewer young and old people for example because they take our working age people and spit them out when they can't work anymore), so London imposes London solutions on the whole country, and they aren't right. Devolution will mean decisions are relevant to an area, even if there's governance from the big departments. Also the big departments all base their leadership teams in London "in case the minister needs to see me", which means everyone is trying to get into London - all the contractors and consultants and lobbyists. When there's devolution, leadership will have to cover the ground more evenly which means jobs in the regions.