Home - Level Up North East

Get Devolution Done

Devolution is back on the agenda for all main UK parties, six years after the North East’s seven councils rejected a deal offered by the government and split in two.

Devolution and Division

Levelling Up The North East

How well is the government living up to its promise to level up the North East?

How Does the Government Measure Up?

What's The North East’s Problem With Devolution?

Why wouldn’t four councils do a deal? Category errors, errors of judgment, socio-cultural factors and acceptance of a directly-elected mayor were some contributing factors.

Why we have failed to establish North East devolution

Building a North East Fit For Devolution

We need a partnership of local politicians, business, trade unions and the voluntary sector who are willing to work with each other and government and engage local people.

What needs to be done to achieve devolution

'We remain committed to devolving power to people and places across the UK. Our ambition is for full devolution across England'.

Conservative Party manifesto, December 2019.

This website exists to hold the government to account for its 2019 election pledge to level up left-behind parts of the UK, and specifically the North East of England. It will also hold the Prime Minister to the pledge his predecessor-but-one made to the Convention of the North on 13 September 2019 to 'do devolution properly'.

But the government cannot devolve resources and responsibilities to local authorities that are too risk-averse to accept them. So this site will also examine the role of local politicians in the region, who must play their part. That will require unity, a common sense of purpose and a willingness to collaborate with each other, other sections of civil society and the government.

There must be no repeat of the mistakes of 2016 when £30m a year was thrown away and the area’s economy was split in two because council leaders could not agree to do a devolution deal.

The present government’s devolution model is far from perfect, and under-funded, but right now it’s the only game in town.

The publisher: Peter Morris was a North East journalist for 28 years, specialising in regional politics, and later worked in communications for 14 years for the NHS and the Government Information and Communications Service. In retirement he studied regional devolution at Newcastle University and was awarded a PhD in 2020. You can read his thesis here

Transparency statement: This site is a personal, not-for-profit initiative by the publisher, who is not a member of any political party. Its only commitment is expressed in its title. It is published to foster debate. It will report relevant news and invites opinions. Content is written by the publisher unless otherwise stated.