"The solely economic focus of devolution – and the corresponding lack of attention to the democracy of devolution."

Earlier in the month, as well as elections to County Councils, some areas of the UK were voting for 'super mayors' of new authorities:
Who are the Metro Mayor candidates you can vote for in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and B&NES? - Bristol Post
Tory Tim Bowles elected West of England mayor - BBC News
What we learnt from Metro Mayor husting with the Bristol Post - Bristol Post

Meanwhile, things don't look that brilliant for England:
Election 2017: A short guide to devolution in the UK - BBC News

And as for democratic accountability:
Who’s going to hold the new metro mayors to account? : Democratic Audit UK

As the East Devon Watch reported earlier in the month:

ENGLISH DEVOLUTION – UNDEMOCRATIC AND UNREPRESENTATIVE

4 MAY 2017

“… The ERS (Electoral Reform Society) has been vocal in pointing out the solely economic focus of devolution – and the corresponding lack of attention to the democracy of devolution. With the public largely shut out of the process, and models imposed rather than chosen, so far citizen involvement in the constitutional future of their own areas has been minimal. …

… The creation of combined authorities highlights a continuing shift in the role of the councillor. Where once councillors took decisions directly on committees they are increasingly scrutineers: holding to account formal executive structures in the form of mayoral or cabinet/leader structures, or scrutinising bodies such as Clinical Commissioning Groups, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Police and Crime Commissioners, and now combined authorities.

The traditional argument for First Past the Post: that it elects ‘strong’ governments, cannot hold up to the reality of modern councillor life in which councillors are as often scrutinisers as decision-makers, not only of their own executives but of bodies external to the traditional council governance structure.

Yet, there are still many councils overwhelmingly dominated by a single party. …”

http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/publication/From-City-Hall-to-Citizens-Hall.pdf


English devolution – undemocratic and unrepresentative | East Devon Watch
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