{"id":338,"date":"2026-08-03T15:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/?p=338"},"modified":"2026-08-03T15:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:06:24","slug":"new-powers-for-mayors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/?p=338","title":{"rendered":"New powers for Mayors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government has issued a statement on changes to the structure of government called ‘Rewiring the State’. The full statement is here: https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/rewiring-the-state-cabinet-statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A summary is below. A couple of comments from me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LibDems have always believed that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the people they affect. So, in principle, devolving more powers from central government to us here in Cambridge is something I strongly support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are currently going through local government reform (LGR) so that the County and District\/City councils are being merged. However, it does not feel like genuine devolution. Several powers that were at the county and district council level have been moved upwards to the Mayor e.g. strategic spatial planning i.e. deciding where development take place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The areas covered by the unitary are necessarily bigger and therefore some local focus is being lost. Cambridge City has different needs to the rural population around it for example. So powers have been moved upwards and instead of a single ‘unitary’ layer of local government we appear to be creating two layers again – just different, larger layers to the ones we had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we are having some further reorganisation of responsibilities. There is not enough detail to tell what powers are being devolved from a National level. The document refers to education, employment and health but many of those responsibilities are already exercised at a county level, so it is therefore unclear whether powers are being moved up from the unitaries or down from national government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some other details are lacking. Public housing is currently substantially funded by Homes England. There nowhere near enough money to build everything that we want to, which is why the council is building private homes within developments to fund council housing. How will the funding of this be arranged going forward? Will this funding be given to Mayors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health has largely been taken away from County councils and centralised in the NHS. Will this now change and if so how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My biggest issue with the reorganisation is the fact that the Mayor is one person who will have a lot of power. This is inherently a bad thing. Giving one individual such extensive responsibilities carries significant risks. It may make a bit more sense in a single city like London where there is an assembly to support and scrutinise the Mayor but we are a large, very disparate area and we do not have an assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These changes are substantial and will take time to be implemented. Much will depend on the detail which I will be very interested to examine when it is published. The decision on how LGR will happen in Cambridgeshire has been deferred, which is an indication of how difficult and controversial just that change will be. The indicative short term changes are modest – retention of business rates in 2027 and income tax in 2028. So we will see what actually happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This summary captures the document’s main objectives, the mechanisms for devolving power, and the practical steps for implementation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Vision and Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n