Brexit suggests ‘devolution should include struggling areas’

A new report has said that devolution plans should be re-assessed to ensure financially disadvantaged areas aren’t set even further back.

An interim report from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) Inclusive Growth Commission has suggested that the vote to leave the EU demonstrates increasing economic inequality and dissatisfaction with the status quo in large parts of the country.

Following Prime Minister Theresa May’s call to make ‘a Britain that works for everyone’, the RSA is campaigning for a stronger devolution strategy to sidestep the dangerous possibility of devolution only benefiting ‘those places that have the narrow characteristics of places that are already succeeding’.

The Commission also warned that the Brexit vote has ‘shaken up orthodox economic assumptions and revealed the extent of voter dissatisfaction with our current economic model’. Therefore, it calls for a devolution programme that is social as well as economic and more funding to support inclusive growth at a local level.

Targeting the government’s Autumn Statement, the group claims the announcement should include additional financial resources for localities.

Stephanie Flanders, who chairs the commission, said: “We want the freedom to do things differently in the UK. There were plenty of mixed messages in the result of the EU referendum, but that one came through loud and clear.

“We do not know yet how Theresa May will translate this vote against the status quo into sensible policy. In her first speech as Prime Minister she said she wanted ‘to make Britain a country that works for everyone’. This could be a powerful uniting theme for policymakers in this parliament and beyond - and a great way to use this moment of radical uncertainty to start to do things differently.

“But if we are to take these words seriously, they must be backed by a concrete strategy for delivering inclusive growth.”