Why is the UK. Government’s new plan for devolution of power in England to local mayors is like a reinvention of feudalism. In this review we look at rather than being a modern path to a better future, the UK government plans for reform are positively medieval.
The UK government recently announced a new white paper on devolving power in England. (link here). Apparently the goal is to empower regions to flourish under a new system of mayors.
Table of Contents
Feudal Devolution
When Kings of old found that their kingdoms were too big to rule directly, they handed their power to local barons. These barons would act in the Kings name. (Indeed people who are imprisoned are still done so at “His Majesty’s Pleasure”
The barons were the ultimate local rulers. They were allowed to do pretty much whatever they liked, as long as they followed the Kings wishes.
England’s Devolution Plan = Feudalism
The UKs newly announced plans on devolution seem more like a move from absolute monarchy: direct power held by the centre into creating a feudal system where local leaders have autonomy, but would derive all their local power and authority from acting on behalf of the centre.
Who Holds Power?
Who holds power in this system: In theory this is democratic with the election of local mayors. However, let’s be frank the centre really do not care what flavour of local mayor each area has. What matters is that they hold all the real puppet strings of power.
As well as controlling funding, policy, governance and having the right to intervene any new initiatives or pilot programmes require central government sign-off.
These local mayors will be given control of local services, but funding will be dependent on compliance with national plans. There will be a system of rewards & punishments from the bureaucrats in the centre to keep the mayors in line.
Local Tradeoffs Ignored
There does not seem to be any attempt to acknowledge the tradeoffs of local areas, e.g taking environmental concerns into account, putting resources into addressing inequalities and social issues.
Managing local tradeoffs is probably the core reason for devolution and it’s been steamrollered.
The real power is not in fact going to local people receiving local services. Instead of the pluralistic people focused power, that is needed in the complex modern era. What we have instead is powerful local leaders acting as agents for those in the centre.
The balance of power is away from people and focused on the dynamic between the centre and the local leaders.
Revolting Mayors
This distribution of power to local barons came at a cost: The feudal system was also marked by revolts of barons against their king.
Just as with the barons, in feudal system, this will mean local mayors and leaders will portray the centre as the enemy and they the heroes. We will no doubt see political uprisings where these mayoral barons will join forces in revolt at what they view as unfair treatment.
For example being forced to build on green spaces or make cuts to local hospitals.
It will create fuss and bother and distract all the political attention from what really needs the most care and attention. Whether people are getting the help they need when they need it.
The local mayoral elites will not understand those needs and be blinded by their battle with the centre.
Conclusion
Our powerful decision makers in our country are moving from a dark ages system of rule where the king is always right, to a medieval feudal one where local leaders enforce the power given from the rules of bureaucrats.
Surely in the 21st Century in trying to fix our broken society, we can do so much better than this.
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