Miliband admits devolution failure
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
Former local government minister David Miliband has admitted the government has not done enough to transfer powers to local government.
Giving the John Smith Memorial lecture, the foreign secretary said the Labour administration had made “incremental progress” devolution, but admitted it had failed to implement more meaningful change.
Hailing the creation of the wellbeing power in the Local Government Act 2000, Mr Miliband said local government had seen “some powers devolved, including the creation of a general power of economic and social wellbeing which the Tories now say is their panacea.
“But the shift in the balance of power from Whitehall to town hall has not yet happened, and the convening power of local government over the whole range of local services not been achieved,” he said.