This Labour government wants local councils to establish devolution deals – in our case that means Warrington and Cheshire.
However, my message to the government is if the answer is another layer of politicians and bureaucrats then you’re asking the wrong question.
Labour is determined that Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, along with Warrington Borough Council (all of which are included in the Tatton constituency) should take on extra powers for transport, skills, housing, planning and employment support, with the potential of a mayor, similar to the set up in London.
Alarm bells should be going off in every constituent’s ears. If you ask residents at the moment are they happy with services provided by any of the three councils and the answer is a resounding no. From planning to roads, education, health care plans to timely responses, these Labour led councils are woeful. So why on earth would you give them more to do? It has disaster written all over it.
Added to that Warrington is £1.8billion in debt, and Cheshire East is trying to stave off bankruptcy so why does anyone think three councils – two of which clearly struggle with serious financial mismanagement – should work together and be in charge of even bigger budgets?
The funding allocation for this Warrington and Cheshire structure will also most likely be linked to a city-type deprivation formula which would see all the money sucked into Crewe, Chester, Ellesmere Port, Winsford and Warrington city centre. Places like Wilmslow, Knutsford, Lymm would not get a look in, let alone our smaller towns and villages.
Prior to the General Election, along with former Conservative Cheshire MPs, I made it clear to the then government that these devolution models do not work for every area – and for us that is mainly due to rurality. The only type of devolution deal that could work for Cheshire is a rural devolution deal with Cheshire either as a standalone entity or with a neighbouring rural county such as Shropshire. We need to look at rural issues like - rural transport, rural broadband, rural businesses, rural infrastructure, high streets in our small towns and isolation. These will be all be ignored under the structure this Labour government is suggesting. Instead this Labour government is just looking to destroy our green belt and our way of life.
In Cheshire and Warrington, the majority of MPs are Labour, and all three councils in the area are Labour-led, so like much of what this Labour government is doing, it will just bulldoze its way forward whatever the wishes of the local community.
A devolution deal - as currently envisaged - with more local politicians and bureaucrats will be bad for my constituents, and I will therefore keep fighting against it.
