Decentralisation in England: How far does the Sub-National Review take things forward?

At a time when all the major political parties in Britain are in agreement that greater decentralisation is needed to increase the effectiveness of public policy and to strengthen the economic potential of regions and localities, specific policy measures and instruments to enable such decentralisation are urgently required.

The Government is committed to empowering local authorities and regions and has launched a programme of reforms to achieve this. But these reforms have often attracted heavy criticism from local leaders, businesses and voluntary community. At the same time, none of the other parties have yet offered any comprehensive or practical alternatives to the current policy mechanisms.

This paper discusses how the reforms suggested in the Review of Sub-national Economic and Development and Regeneration (known as the Sub-National Review or 'SNR') can take the decentralisation agenda forward and what should be changed in order to turn good opportunities into a reality.