“… In his speech Clark also announced the launch of an official consultation on business rates retention, and insisted that devolution deals were “very much available to all of the country”.
The Communities Secretary said: “No place is the same and no deal should be the same. The geography and powers and governance that are right for one place will not be right for another. But in every case I will look for local agreement, not central imposition.
“Now I know that in many cases it would seem easier to give a standard blueprint and compel authorities to adopt it. But if you believe in devolution as I do that is to miss the whole point. I will not compel any council to join any devolution arrangement. It needs to be locally agreed.
“But in a Britain in which the question has changed from whether to devolve to how significantly, there is a huge opportunity for leaders who are willing to work together in harmony to take powers and budgets which can be used to magnify the impact on the lives of their residents.”
Unfortunately, this probably means that those areas which have not built in robust scrutiny will probably not get it.
East Devon Watch 