"Place-based cooperation – the latest buzzphrase from yesterday’s speech by Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham – is simply the new meaningless slogan of the lanyard-wearing Westminster class.
Burnham promises a grand devolution of power across the UK. Yet Scotland and Wales already stand as cautionary tales of where this path can lead: bloated bureaucracies, poor economic performance and governance failures that England would be unwise to emulate.
Even as senior civil servants work from home, Burnham glossed over the reality. Whitehall will retain control of the issues that matter most to voters. Apart from AI, mass migration, the soaring costs of Net Zero, and defence, central government will continue to dictate:
- Where asylum seekers are housed and dispersed (“dumped”) in communities
- Where pylons and wind turbines are imposed on the landscape
- Where housing for asylum seekers and refugees will be built
- Taxation policy and overall spending
- The direction and funding of the NHS
- National defence and security priorities
In short, the big strategic decisions stay in London. What gets devolved are the messy local consequences and the blame when things go wrong."
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