‘No’ vote sparks calls for council funding shake-up

Councils in England and Scotland have both called for more powers over funding following the result of the Scottish referendum.
The final result of the vote, announced within the last hour, saw the Scottish people reject the idea of independence by a margin of 55.3%  to 44.7%
But the country will now receive “devo max” powers from Whitehall, a move that is likely to be accompanied by further devolution to English city regions as part of a wider constitutional settlement for the UK.
David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Association said this morning: “The devolution genie is out of the bottle.
“The new powers that Scotland will now receive must be given to local areas in England and Wales. The appetite for devolution does not stop at the border and the rest of the UK will not be content to settle for the status quo.”
He called for the urgent formation of a constitutional convention to speed up the process of English devolution, to set out a timetable for new powers to be given to local councils.
“One rule for Scotland and another for England is totally unacceptable. Local areas need to be set free from the grip of Whitehall and allowed to raise and spend money in a way which will best serve the people who live there, from equipping them with the skills for work to being able to build the homes people need. Crucially, this must be underpinned by a fair and equitable distribution of public money for all of the UK,” Sparks said.
He added that the solution of establishing an English Parliament would not represent true devolution.
“It is locally elected councils – driving their local economies through devolved taxation and greater control over council tax and business rates – which can satisfy the desire of people in England to have greater say in the places they live and work.”
Earlier this week, a report by the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy, formed by councillors and other experts north of the border, also called for more powers to be devolved to Scottish councils, whatever the result of the referendum.
Cllr David O’Neill, chair of the commission, said: “We understand how difficult it is to throw off the shackles of the current way of looking at democracy.
“However, the reality is that if we are serious about making Scotland fairer, wealthier and healthier then we need to start putting local communities in control over what matters to them.“

Photo (cropped) by Frankie Roberto