Tory MPs are demanding urgent explanations from ministers over the levelling up agenda after an official report said plans to move thousands more civil service jobs from London to Birmingham and Newcastle had been scrapped.

Toby Helm www.theguardian.com 

The Government Property Agency (GPA), which falls under the Cabinet Office, said in a brief reference in its recent annual report and accounts that a decision had been “made by ministers” to axe the proposals after “a review identified that they no longer aligned with strategic requirements”.

This was despite the fact that more than £1m had been spent on the two projects as part of the flagship government drive to spread the civil service out of Whitehall and boost growth in the regions.

Amid signs of Cabinet Office panic over a gathering backlash, the Tory MP John Stevenson, who chairs the Northern Research Group (NRG) of Conservative MPs from “red wall” seats, described the move as a “step backwards”. He added: “I expect a full explanation on parliament’s return and alternative policy initiatives to ensure that the movement of civil servants does proceed. I will also be asking the public administration and constitutional affairs committee to look at this issue.”

Many Tory MPs in the north and Midlands are becoming increasingly nervous that failure to deliver on levelling up will put them in increasing danger of losing their seats at the next general election.

The government has a longstanding commitment to move 22,000 civil service posts out of Whitehall by 2030. Several thousand have already moved to towns and cities including Glasgow, Darlington, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Newcastle.

But the decision to axe the latest phase affecting Birmingham and Newcastle has raised questions about the level of commitment to completing the task, with government insiders citing the short-term cost implications as a brake on progress. The Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, has said the project in Birmingham has fallen victim to the trend toward working from home.

Last month, the cross-party public administration and constitutional affairs committee was highly critical of the way the government was carrying out the project. While noting that the government said in March that it had already relocated 11,000 posts from London, it added that “a lack of clear information published by the Cabinet Office makes it difficult to judge how substantial its achievements are” for a variety of reasons.

It accused the government of “adopting a boosterish approach to reporting progress, which is likely to give an exaggerated picture of its achievements”. It also criticised the government for failing to publish any underlying research that supported its “high-profile statements about the economic benefits to be delivered by moving posts to new regional offices”.

The NRG is expected to raise the issue again when it tables its manifesto for the north at the Tory party conference in Manchester.

The government’s current commitment to relocating large numbers of civil service posts out of London dates back to the Conservative party’s 2017 general election manifesto. In the 2020 budget, the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, translated this commitment into the specific target to move “22,000 civil service roles out of central London by the end of this decade [ie 2030]”.

In the 2022 levelling up white paper, the government further stated that the 22,000 posts would be moved out of Greater London, and that the first 15,000 of these would be relocated by 2025.

This weekend, a government spokesperson suggested that what had been written in the GPA report had been “misinterpreted” and that the plans were, in fact, still all firmly on track.

“We are committed to launching new government hubs in Birmingham and Newcastle,” the spokesperson said. Officials said that 1,150 roles would be relocated to Birmingham from London by March 2025 and that 850 had already moved. In addition, 350 more jobs would be relocated to Tyneside by 2025 on top of the 400 already relocated.

www.cpre.org.uk (from May)

More than eight out of 10 councillors fear local democracy will be eroded unless MPs and peers heed their warnings and amend the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is close to completing its passage through Parliament.

The finding comes from a survey of 672 councillors commissioned by CPRE. It found 69% oppose National Development Management Policies, which would grant the government unprecedented powers to override local plans without scrutiny. The cross-party opposition to the far-reaching measures means 4% of all councillors – and only 6% of Conservatives – believe NDMPs will enhance local democracy.

The survey, by polling company Savanta, found:

• 82% of councillors say National Development Management Policies will erode local democracy
• the majority of Conservative councillors oppose NDMPs – with only 6% saying they will enhance local democracy
• NDMPs would give levelling up secretary Michael Gove unprecedented powers to overrule local authorities – the new national policies could cover virtually any planning issue, and override any policy in a local plan

Tom Fyans, interim CEO at CPRE, the countryside charity, said:

‘Local democracy will be trashed by these unjustified planning reforms making their way through Parliament. As things currently stand, an ever-changing secretary of state would be able to override local plans to suit their political agenda. The government’s absurd claim this would ‘restore trust’ in the system sounds like brazen disinformation.

‘As things currently stand, an ever-changing secretary of state would be able to override local plans to suit their political agenda.’

‘National Development Management Policies are a cleverly disguised power grab by central government. The secretary of state would be granted the extraordinary right to override any local plan on virtually any issue, without crucial checks and balances. This is a full-on attack on local democracy.

‘NDMPs will mean government ministers have more say over what happens on a person’s street than their locally elected councillors. This is the polar opposite of what had been promised in the Levelling Up Bill. Local plans should be the chief factor in deciding planning applications because they give local people and our elected representatives power.’

As currently drafted in the Levelling Up Bill, NDMPs would introduce legally binding national planning policies without minimum guarantees for public or parliamentary scrutiny. The government has defended the centralising powers as in-step with the current planning system, saying they do not represent a fundamental change. A recent opinion from leading planning silk Paul Brown KC at Landmark Chambers flatly contradicts this assertion, saying it is incorrect.

More than 80% Labour, Liberal Democrat and independent councillors are against NDMPs. The level of opposition is lower among Conservative councillors, yet a majority (54%) still oppose the policies and only a quarter (25%) support them.

The representative online survey of councillors in England was conducted between 3 and 29 March 2023. Of those who took part, 231 were Conservative, 203 Labour, 113 Liberal Democrat and 125 independent.

Frustration at increase in annual cost and discontent over policies fuelling grassroots dissatisfaction as election looms

Senior Conservatives are braced for as many as 30,000 party members to leave when membership fees rise by 56 per cent, amid signs of wider Tory grassroots discontent (and despondency).

www.telegraph.co.uk (extract)

[The Conservative party Leader is chosen by party members from a short list drawn up by Conservative parliamentarians. It is thought that current membership is around 180,000. Will the Tories become more extreme in the future? – Owl]

An interesting letter in this week’s Exmouth Journal:

“I read with interest your recent column on the increasing costs for Policing in Exmouth. Over the last two years I have looked with curiosity for the promise of more police officers in our community, especially as our levy for Council Tax has increased year on year for this purpose.

I wrote to the Police Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall many months ago raising this issue. Her website indicated that she aimed to reply within a short time but nine months have passed and Alison Hernandez dearly found my letter too difficult to make a reply? I explained that I had not seen any police officers for over five years on the Exmouth beat and wondered if they had lost their legs. I explained my reason for this question and admitted I had seen police cars being driven but that I had not been able to talk to a policeman face to face.

I have also been curious to know the whereabouts of the new Exmouth Police Station, reported in the Exmouth Journal at least on two occasions. The first time the announcement was made by our local M.P. Simon Jupp, as though he had been responsible for this remarkable break through. The second time the Exmouth Journal showed a picture of the supposed Police House but with no address.

As I said earlier I had not seen any Police on foot patrol and then lo and behold my wife and I actually met two police officers on foot several weeks ago. I was so surprised, with humour I said to them both, “You are not in fancy dress are you? You are actually police officers?” They smiled and assured me they were. Then I asked them where the new Exmouth Police Station was and they looked at each other blankly and said, “I’m sorry we don’t know”

In the same copy of last week’s Exmouth Journal the Police Commissioner wrote an article setting out her vision for Policing in Devon and Cornwall, part of which had been reported on Southwest Spotlight, saying that she hoped to see more improvements in policing in the two Counties. Well, I would hope so too but I am sceptical about her vision. The last two years seem to prove her vision has been a fantasy at considerable cost to Council Tax payers.”

Peter Eastwood (Name and address supplied to the Journal)