Herald Express: Labour reverses local government reorganisation plans in Devon - what's next?

Last Monday, out of nowhere, the government paused its plans to carve-up Devon’s local authorities. What followed was one of my most dramatic days yet in parliament.

For weeks, I had been raising the alarm about the government’s plans for Devon. As a reminder, these would have seen Exeter, Torbay, and Plymouth Councils expand, with a new Devon Council sandwiched in the space in-between.

This may sound pretty insignificant, but trust me, had this plan gone ahead, the repercussions were huge. With economic potential gouged out, the new Devon Council would have found it near impossible to deliver effective, affordable services across its 110-mile remit.

Communities were also on the verge of being divided from or torn away from where they consider home. Marldon, Stoke Gabriel, Kingswear and Berry Pomeroy were just some of the areas where local government reorganisation (LGR) came up as a concern during my surgery tour this summer.

This was bad enough – especially given how often the government spoke of the importance of community support for LGR. But then you have the disruption and added complications to health and children’s services, which are already incredibly stretched.

I believe the plan was deeply unworkable. The frustrating thing was Devonians recognised this. But despite 69% of those consulted viewing the plans negatively, the government went ahead and backed the only proposal put forward by Labour politicians.

Against this backdrop, it was hard to view their plans as anything but political gerrymandering. Had Starmer continued as Prime Minister, I fear these warnings would have fallen on deaf ears. With Burnham, though, we had a chance.

The new Prime Minister has waxed lyrical about how devolution should be done from the ground up, rather than imposed by Whitehall. The government’s LGR plans for Devon made a mockery of these beliefs. I told him so when we had a brief chat in July. He promised to have a look at the proposals; I didn’t hear anything more.

So last Monday’s announcement took me – and many others – by surprise. Citing new legal advice, the Local Government Secretary withdrew plans to remould the councils of Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and hit pause on 14 other areas, including Devon.

A review will now be conducted into the LGR plans for Devon, the specifics of which are yet to be released.

I hope that during this review, the government roots their decision-making in the values of devolution that Andy Burnham advocates. If they had done this from the start, they wouldn’t be in this mess and councils around the country wouldn’t have wasted an extraordinary amount of money and time on plans which were impractical from the off.

This argument was never about being against LGR. All we wanted was for the government to listen and prioritise local concerns over political interests. That clearly didn’t happen this time. Next time must be different.

Though I was initially shocked by the government’s decision to hit pause on its plan, in hindsight, they had little choice. They had backed themselves into a corner over LGR by choosing an option that was unworkable, that risked the economic and social viability of the county as a whole and disregarded the wishes of rural Devon.

Everyone – bar Labour politicians in Exeter and Plymouth – could see this. Now that the government has paused the process, I hope they learn from their mistakes. All of Devon deserves the best opportunity to thrive, not just the urban areas.