Today, leaders from the ten `core cities' in the UK (Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol) met at Glasgow's Core Cities UK Devolution Summit, where they laid out their `road map' to devolution.
Comparing it to the Magna Carta - which has its 800th anniversary this year their Charter For Local Freedom set out which powers central government should devolve down to cities. But it is creating a backlash in Salford and beyond where the Greater Manchester Referendum Campaign is calling for a vote on devolution and an elected Greater Manchester Mayor, rather than an imposition.
Speaking at the Summit was Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, and Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council and Chair of Core Cities.
Speaking about devolution or Devo Manc recently, Leese said, without any irony, "We are proposing a revolutionary shift in power from our remote parliaments to local people who know their places best."
He added: "This is a low-risk, high-impact strategy to secure a bolder, better national future that will renew our democracy." Except that no-one, apart from politicians, has had a vote or a voice in the `future that will renew our democracy'.
"Central to this agreement is not only a reformed governance system and new powers, which will be imposed on all of us, without any of us having any say in it whatsoever, but the enshrining of further cuts, and privatisation of local public services, and a policy of continued austerity across the whole of Greater Manchester for years to come" states the Greater Manchester Referendum Campaign
"Together, we must reject outright such outrageously dodgy democracy and any dodgy deal cooked up behind closed doors, without any reference to the views of the people of Greater Manchester, that risks locking millions of us into brutal austerity policies and never ending cuts and public asset-stripping, which will have consequences for decades" it adds.
Also speaking at the Summit was Phillip Blond, Director of the ResPublica `think tank', widely regarded as the darling of David Cameron's hopelessly failed `Big Society'.
Blond is now, apparently, being used as the new darling of the North West's Labour leaders to push the devolution road map via his report, Restoring Britain's City States: Devolution, Public Service Reform and Local Economic Growth.
One virtual flyer on social networks shows a photo of Blond with the caption `This man you've never heard of is going to make big decisions about your future...'
Meanwhile, Gerry Stoker, a professor of Politics at the University of Southampton, also questioned the democracy of the devolution process..."There's very little community or wider engagement" he told the Guardian recently "It's much more a discussion between two levels of politicians..."
Now even those who agree in principle with devolution are calling for a referendum, which local politicians seem determined to resist...
The Greater Manchester Referendum Campaign is urging people to sign a 38 Degrees online petition which states: "Ordinary people must surely have the basic democratic right to be consulted, scrutinise, and have a say in ANY changes, welcome or otherwise, to the way they are governed, including on any regional 'devolution' proposal affecting them. This would include whether they actually want it or not, and if they do, such things as what region they might be part of, and what any `devolved' decision making powers and financial settlement might go with it..."
To sign the petition click here
See also previous Salford Star article on Devolution click here
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