“This Bill does not devolve power; it recentralises it – outsourcing Whitehall control to regional figureheads and sidelining the councils that know their communities best.”
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is being sold as a landmark reform, a bold new chapter for local democracy. Ministers present it as a chance to “give power back to the people” and “strengthen local leadership.” But scratch beneath the surface and a very different reality emerges.
This Bill doesn’t restore power to local councils; it strips it away. Far from being a revival of local self-determination, it represents something more troubling: the franchising of central government, dressed up as devolution.
As someone who has worked in and led in local government, I can say this plainly: unless we challenge it, this Bill will weaken local democracy for good.
How did we get here?
The story of English devolution has always been a complicated one. While Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own legislatures, England has no equivalent. Instead, devolution here has been piecemeal and regionally selective, starting with Labour’s introduction of Combined Authorities and elected mayors in city regions.
Initially, the pitch was about economic growth: bigger regions, bigger deals, and bigger influence with Whitehall. Mayors would give areas like Greater Manchester and the West Midlands a strong voice. For some, that vision worked. For others, especially shire and rural authorities, it never felt like real devolution – more like conditional delegation.
This new Bill goes further than any previous measure. It entrenches a model that prioritises strong mayors over strong councils. It claims to decentralise power, but in reality moves it from local councils – the institutions closest to people – into new structures that answer upward to Westminster, not outward to communities.
Centralisation disguised as localism
Under this Bill, strategic authority shifts decisively to Combined Authorities headed by executive mayors. While these mayors are elected, their real role is to act as single points of contact for Whitehall.
Local councils, once the strategic leaders of their places, are being repositioned. They are no longer at the heart of decision-making but reduced to delivery agents for policies shaped elsewhere. Funding flows through the mayor, not to councils. Planning powers can be overridden by Mayoral Development Orders, sidelining local planning committees and elected members.
In practice, that means decisions about housing, transport, or regeneration can be made without meaningful local accountability. The mayor becomes the brand, the figurehead, the story, while the councils, stripped of strategic power, become invisible in the democratic process.
This is not devolution. It’s centralisation outsourced regionally, wrapped in the comforting language of localism.
The North East shows another way
There is, however, one vital exception – and it’s right here in the North East. When the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) was negotiated, local council leaders fought hard for a different model. They refused to accept the “strong mayor” template imposed elsewhere.
Instead, NEMCA operates with statutory collective governance. That means big decisions on transport, housing, and economic growth must be taken collectively by the cabinet of council leaders. The mayor cannot act unilaterally. There is no casting vote. Power is shared. Local knowledge matters. Accountability remains plural.
This wasn’t gifted by government, it was won through negotiation. Elsewhere, in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, the “strong mayor” model dominates. In those places, mayors have sweeping executive powers while councils play a supporting role.
If the North East remains an exception, the erosion of local leadership elsewhere will become the norm. And that matters, because what happens here will shape what happens next everywhere.
Link to House of Commons area factsheet for the North East, published 10 July 2025: here.
Why councils still matter
Councils are not an optional extra, they are the foundation of local democracy. They are the bodies closest to the people they serve, rooted in the communities they represent. They provide more than services: they provide accountability, voice, and connection.
Think about what councils do every day:
- Protecting children and vulnerable adults through social care.
- Preventing homelessness and delivering housing.
- Managing planning, licensing, and environmental services.
- Supporting education, community health, and civic safety.
During the pandemic, local government showed its value. Councils delivered food parcels, organised community testing, and managed emergency responses when national systems struggled. They acted with agility and understanding because they know their places.
To strip councils of strategic oversight is to hollow out the very institutions that embody local democracy. Yet this Bill does exactly that. It overrides local planning, centralises economic development, and detaches delivery from deliberation.
The silence is deafening
One question looms: Where is the outcry?
Local government has fought hard on funding and on specific issues like SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision. But this Bill poses an even deeper threat: an existential one. If we do not speak out now, we will wake up to find real local power gone, replaced by regional figureheads with Whitehall on speed dial.
This is not about personalities. It’s about principle. The Bill needs to change. It must protect council autonomy, make collective decision-making the rule, and curb the unchecked rise of strong-mayor centralism.
So, what can we do?
This matters for all of us, not just councillors and officers, but residents, campaigners, and community groups. If we want decisions made by people who understand our towns, cities, and villages, we need to act. That means:
- Raising awareness, because most people have never heard of this Bill, let alone its implications.
- Pressuring MPs and peers, to amend the Bill so that power genuinely flows to communities, not just to a single figurehead.
- Speaking out locally, through councils, combined authority meetings, and civic forums.
Real devolution should mean real accountability. It should empower communities, not concentrate power in a single office branded as local leadership but operating on Westminster’s terms.
Devolution or disguise?
Let’s be honest: this Bill is a political construct. It creates visible, media-friendly mayors who serve as intermediaries for Whitehall, not champions of local democracy.
If we fail to challenge this now, the last vestiges of true local government will disappear. And when that happens, it won’t just be councillors who lose, it will be the communities they represent.
Real devolution means power returned to communities; not rebranded, recentralised, and spun for optics. It’s time to make that clear, before it’s too late.
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