It’s very rarely that I find myself agreeing with leading Conservatives, but I couldn’t agree more with West Midlands Mayor Andy Street in calling for the ‘begging bowl’ culture that forces areas to bid against each other for vital government funds to end.
A majority of the country was snubbed in the battle for levelling-up cash to fund urgent projects.
“There is a lot of wasted time, energy and money in unsuccessful bids”
Congratulations to those who were successful, including several Liberal Democrat-led councils, but there is a lot of disappointment out there, and a lot of wasted time, energy and money in unsuccessful bids which just saw neighbour set against neighbour.
Where is the feedback from ministers and MPs about why the bids had not succeeded?
If I was a sceptic, I would say the funding is being used to shore up support for the Government in marginal seats ahead of the next general election.
This was a perfect example of the urgent need for devolution, with funding decisions put in the hands of local politicians and organisations with local knowledge and expertise, not faceless civil servants in Whitehall.
Fundamentally, this episode is just another example of why Whitehall’s bidding and begging-bowl culture is broken.
The sooner we can decentralise and move to proper fiscal devolution, involving all levels of local government, not a ‘top down, we know best’ attitude, the better.
It is flawed, and I cannot understand why the levelling-up funding money was not devolved for local decision-makers to decide on what’s best for their areas.