Letter: Reorganisation Plans Are the Precise Opposite of ‘Devolution’

Published on: 6 Feb, 2025
Updated on: 5 Feb, 2025

From David Roberts

In response to: Government Agrees – County Council Elections Will Be Postponed

I admit I was wrong to predict that the Labour government would not prolong the Tories’ time in office by postponing the county council elections.

Politically, this seems an exceptionally foolish thing to do, allowing the opposition an extra year to recover from their catastrophic rejection by voters in the general election, while attracting avoidable attacks on themselves for playing fast-and-loose with local democracy.

It would not be so bad if they actually had a plan for unitary councils in Surrey. But this is completely up in the air, with strong suggestions that the new sub-county unitary areas will be several times as big as our current boroughs and districts, making them that much more remote from local people.

This is highly centralising and the precise opposite of the “devolution” being promised.