“On devolution:

“This is devolution by consent. This is not a top-down dictatorial decision from Westminster about how areas should be considered.
“It is saying to areas: you come forward with the best plan that local people support and local councils support, and the faster you do that, the faster we can act. But we don’t want to crowbar people into something against their will.”

So, Dave doesn’t even know that we can’t support something that

(a) we haven’t been consulted about – ever
and
(b) happens in secret anyway.

Bottom of the class there, Dave

On mayors as a condition of devolution deals:

“If you’re going to have extra powers and extra resources, you need to have the governance in place so that local people feel they can control it.

“There’s a strength in having mayors because you can re-elect a mayor that is doing a good thing, and chuck out a mayor that is doing a bad thing. So we do believe in reforming governance at the same time as doing devolution.”

Er, same again Dave: we are just wheeled in at the last-minute as voting fodder – and four years is a hell of a long time to wait if we find we have Local Enterprise Partnership backed dimbo – or worse, an opportunist out to make a quick buck for a bunch of very close mates.

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Q-PM-dictatorship/story-29270503-detail/story.html