UK Parliament / Open data

Devolution in England

Proceeding contribution from Clive Betts (Labour) in the House of Commons on Monday, 2 March 2015. It occurred during Estimates day on Devolution in England.

That has been true so far, but the positions in Scotland and in Wales are going to change. They will have more tax-raising powers and will be held to account. Otherwise, we will have a body that simply spends and gives out the largess, but is not held accountable for raising the money in the first place.

The Committee tried to deal with some difficult issues. We recognise that we may not have got absolutely all the details right. We felt, on balance, that there was a very clear case that devolution would encourage greater growth, particularly in cities. That applies to counties as well, but there are very clear figures for cities. Unlike other countries where the GVA of their major cities tends to be above the national average, with the exception of London and Bristol, the GVAs of the major cities in this country are actually below the national average. There is a fundamental problem there. Devolution does not necessarily guarantee more growth, but it removes some of the current restrictions on decisions being taken at a local level that can make growth take place.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
593 c698 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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