Regular readers will be aware from previous reports that the Tory-led coalition currently in control of the county council decided last year to join a region-wide Devolution deal to cover the whole of the North East region.
This was despite misleading assurances that until late last year the coalition had intended to secure a single Countywide devolution deal for County Durham.
Background: until late last year (2022) the Coalition had led everyone to believe they wanted a Countywide Devolution deal. However there was then a sudden change of heart when they ‘decided’ unilaterally to join a regional LA6 devolution deal which would cover all local authorities from the Scottish Borders in the north to Newton Aycliffe in the south. This was a deal made behind closed doors by an unrepresentative Tory/Lib Dem/Independent Cabinet – against the wishes of all 3 Labour MPs in County Durham, the DCC Labour Group and the people of County Durham themselves. (Reminder: a DCC Labour Group consultation late last year received over 600 responses, and showed that 84% of residents were in favour of Countywide deal).
In December last year I issued a requisition notice to the Chair of DCC to hold an Extraordinary council meeting to give all council members of all parties the opportunity to discuss the proposal on behalf of the people and communities they represent. My requisition was accepted and the meeting took place in the first week of December.
The Coalition’s Devolution deal was discussed but our resolution to agree a county-wide deal narrowly lost the subsequent vote, with the Coalition amending our motion to read that they would look at the ‘best’ deal for County Durham. However, it was revealed afterwards that many ‘Independent’ members - and even some Lib Dems/Tories - were under the impression that the final decision on a Devolution deal would be made following an additional meeting of full council held at some point after the public ‘consultation’ exercise takes place. This was despite our warnings at the Extraordinary meeting that this would be their one and only opportunity to speak up on behalf of the people and influence the outcome of the deal.
The truth is that the Coalition Cabinet members alone will make the final decision on a Devolution deal for County Durham. The Labour Group is considering a way forward in advance of a statutory ‘consultation’ exercise to be held soon and we are pressing the Coalition leadership to hold an extraordinary meeting of the council after the public consultation to give all members the opportunity to have their say. A devolution package lasting for 30 years is a seismic change in local government – and is far too important an issue to be decided by a handful of Tories and Lib Dems in a chaotic Coalition cabinet held together by the support of so-called ‘Independents’.
Because the coalition had made their decision unilaterally, behind closed doors and without any form of local discussion or consultation, the Labour group convened a special meeting of full council last December to press the coalition into coming clean about what they’d actually been up to. At that meeting, as well as trying to force a vote on a Countywide deal, Labour members urged the coalition leadership to commit to a referendum which would give the people of County Durham a say on which form of devolution, if any, they wanted for their area. In response the coalition leadership rejected our calls to hold a referendum, saying essentially that ‘we don’t have to, so we’re not going to.’
Naturally this approach didn’t go down too well with members of the public who, from the responses we’ve picked up, insist that a matter of such significance for County Durham certainly warrants a referendum - or at least some level of ‘genuine’ consultation, rather than the basic ‘statutory’ consultation currently underway.
That backlash from the public may well explain the coalition’s somewhat misleading and contradictory comments in this months free magazine Durham County News. On page 7 of the current Spring issue the coalition has set out an ‘explainer’ on Devolution in the form of a Q&A piece.
In the introduction at the very top of the page it states that the leaders of the LA7 authorities have agreed a devolution deal which the ‘government is minded to approve’. However, at the end of the same article it tries to justify the coalition’s rejection of a public referendum by suggesting that the devolution deal ‘was a government decision and we now have to follow government processes, which do not include a public referendum’. So in the space of just a few column inches the narrative changed from the devolution deal being a local decision made by the LA7 councils to one made by central government!
Obviously the two statements cannot both be true – which suggests that the coalition is passing the buck to someone else in the hope of dodging the blame for their own decision to close down public opinion. Deliberate deceit? Or simply the usual chaos and confusion that we’ve come to expect from the coalition? That’s for you to decide.
But we need to be clear about this. The decision to join a regional deal was made unilaterally, behind closed doors by Durham County Council’s Tory-led coalition. There was no discussion or open debate until the Labour group forced them into one - and worse, the coalition is now hiding behind ‘government processes’ to shield themselves from public criticism over their refusal to let the people have a meaningful say on an issue that will have significant and far-reaching consequences for their county.
The statutory consultation currently under way can be accessed on the DCC website here: https://www.durham.gov.uk/NorthEastDevolution and will run until Thursday 23 March 2023.
