介绍： Devolution: Brum Brum
As the North East rejects a devolution deal, the West Midlands embraces one
From The Economist 20161015

Audio:

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A circus in paradise
A BRUMMIE resurgence is in full swing. Visitors arriving at New Street railway station are met by a wall of quotes, trumpeting the advantages of...

介绍： Devolution: Brum Brum
As the North East rejects a devolution deal, the West Midlands embraces one
From The Economist 20161015

Audio:

0:00



A circus in paradise
A BRUMMIE resurgence is in full swing. Visitors arriving at New Street railway station are met by a wall of quotes, trumpeting the advantages of the city: first for quality of life outside London; 40% of the population under 25; the highest concentration of companies outside the capital. Foodies note that Birmingham has five restaurants with a Michelin star. The sense of revitalisation is all over, not least at the construction of a central complex called Paradise Circus, alongside a swanky new library and a symphony hall housing one of the best orchestras in Europe.

It is not before time. Birmingham has spent much of the post-war era down in the economic and architectural dumps. Unemployment is falling but still high. Local politicians now hope that a new devolution deal could help the reboot, unlocking billions of pounds of investment in the city over the next couple of decades.

The devolution of power to English cities was championed by the previous chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne. Manchester, Birmingham’s great rival, was first out of the blocks. Manchester has agreed to a deal in which it will have an elected mayor from May 2017, and more control over budgets for transport and skills training. Earlier this year the government devolved to it the whole £6 billion ($7.3 billion) budget for health and social care in the region. There were fears that the new prime minister, Theresa May, and her chancellor, Philip Hammond, had cooled on the idea. Some took the resignation of Lord O’Neill, Mr Osborne’s right-hand man on the issue, and the retirement of Sir Howard Bernstein, Manchester’s chief executive, as a vote of no confidence.

Yet at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month, Mrs May clarified that she was committed to devolution. Brexit-supporting, working-class voters in the north need something to boost their economic fortunes, and more empowered local government could help. Where Mr Osborne touted the “Northern Powerhouse”, anchored in Manchester, Mrs May seems keener on revving up the “Midlands Engine”, based around Birmingham. In Andy Street, a former boss of the John Lewis retail chain, the Tories have a candidate running for mayor of the West Midlands next year who has a chance of winning, unlike in Manchester and Liverpool, which are both more solidly Labour.


The West Midlands was late to put forward a devolution bid and some thought the political diversity of the region might scupper co-operation. The deal offered in return for signing up for a mayor is modest: about £37m a year over 30 years. But, says Bob Sleigh, the councillor co-ordinating the initiative, it could unlock as much as £7 billion more, including £4.4 billion attached to the construction of HS2, a high-speed railway due to reach Birmingham by 2026. “If there were no devolution it would make it much more difficult for us to maximise the economic benefits of HS2,” he says. Fiscal devolution is a future aim.

Though the Brummies are on board, the Geordies are not. The North East formed an alliance of seven councils including Newcastle and Sunderland with a view to taking advantage of devolution. But last month they voted, by four to three, to reject a similar deal for reasons that seem part parochial politics, part cynicism of Westminster and part anger at austerity. “We’d be getting central government functions devolved with massively reduced budgets for us to administer our own cuts,” says Martin Gannon, leader of Gateshead council. Ben Harrison of the Centre for Cities, a think-tank, says the absence of a big project with regional implications like HS2 may have made it harder for local leaders to see how devolution would improve things across the region. But “it is highly unlikely that turning down a devolution deal means you’ll avoid needing to implement cuts,” he says. “It just means less control over the future of your economy.”

Even with its deal, the West Midlands has a big task. Productivity is below the national average. Only one of its seven councils is a net contributor to the Treasury. Across the region there is a higher than average proportion of unskilled people and a lower than average proportion of graduates. Devolution is part of a long game to address this. And Birmingham has a head start over some northern regions, where progress could be even slower.

Perhaps most difficult will be overcoming the cynicism, and apathy, of the public. “There’s no point in a mayor,” says Phil Reeves, a 56-year-old railway worker smoking a cigarette outside New Street station, echoing a widely held view. “I don’t trust any of them, and I don’t believe the ordinary man will benefit from any of it.” It will be up to the West Midlands’ new mayor to prove him wrong.


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