Signing up to devolution: the prevalence of contract over governance in English devolution policy

Territory, power and statecraft: understanding English devolution

“…Participants may have perceived this too as a price worth paying to obtain new powers, but it stymied the process in a number of localities. Research has also indicated that the scope of devolution was firmly limited in practice by government priorities (Communities and Local Government Committee, 2016;PSA, 2016;Sandford, 2016b). At the time of writing, the prognosis that devolution deals provide a successful formula for devolving power in England is, therefore, under challenge.…”

“…This was allied to opaque and largely secret deal negotiations, also the subject of considerable critique Prosser, Renwick, Giovannini, Sandford, & Flinders, 2017;Sandford, 2016b). Participants may have perceived this too as a price worth paying to obtain new powers, but it stymied the process in a number of localities.…”

“…Such restructuring is viewed by commentators as a response to a variety of pressures including managing distinct subnational identities and cultures (Tang & Huhe, 2016), mitigating economic diversity (Martin, Pike, Tyler, & Gardiner, 2016), relieving the political and bureaucratic burden associated with centralization (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2015), and changing political views on the contribution of decentralization to achieving economic and social policies (Hambleton, 2015;Jessop, 2016). In recent years the UK has witnessed far-reaching devolutionary reforms to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the introduction of an elected Mayor and Assembly in London (Flinders, 2009;Sandford, 2016b). And yet the paradox of these devolutionary measures was that (1) they were introduced within the constitutional parameters of the Westminster Model; and (2) they were periphery focused in geographical terms with little obvious thought to how by far the largest constituent nation of the UK (i.e., England) might be included.…”

Policy-making ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage: Assessing the implications for effectiveness and democracy

“…While there were differences of opinion on final outcomes, these observations were expressed by central, local and non-state actors in both our interviews and focus group. Back stage negotiations were seen as a route to achieving the transfer of power to the local level and can account for why there has been such a 'step change' in inter-governmental relations compared with previous governments (Sandford, 2017).…”

“…Consultation on the proposals has largely taken place after the event, being difficult to access and, unsurprisingly, attracting relatively few responses (House of Lords 2016; Prosser et al, 2017). The devolution deals have been described as 'supercentralisation' (Hambleton 2017) and compared to contractual relationships between central and local government (Sandford 2017).…”