Decentralisation is normal – it is the UK that is the odd-man-out

By Tim Knox

EGF Editor

EGF undertook detailed research of the governance system in 10 peer countries in order to establish how decentralisation works in other economically advanced countries. The summary report can be found here.

It shows how the UK is by far the most centralised large democratic country in the world. In particular:

·      UK local councils are more remote from and therefore less accountable to voters They are over 20 times larger than those in any of our peer countries.

·      The UK’s tiers of government have far fewer financial powers, both in how they raise their funds and in how they spend it. Financial control remains in Whitehall.

·      Local government in the UK has far less control over the delivery of public services in their area.

·      In contrast to the UK, the peer countries studied have a uniform structure where bodies in the same tier have the same responsibilities and powers.

This huge over-centralisation in the UK has wretched consequences, including voter apathy, the overload on around 25 Ministers, the inability to harness the energy, creativity and local knowledge of thousands of councillors, poor public services, poor productivity and the failure to meet the many grave challenges that face the UK.

In contrast, decentralised countries:

·      tend to have lower taxes and spending, and better public services properly adjusted to local needs

·      are richer, grow faster and score better across almost all metrics of wellbeing.

·      have a higher quality of governance when local services are matched to citizen preferences.

Those who support the current arrangements in the UK need to answer a simple question: why, if other comparable countries do so much better with a decentralised approach, do we maintain the myth that the men and women – for all their best efforts – in Whitehall know best?

Read our report on Decentralisation HERE