Reform UK candidate's letter on the prospect of devolution

That government are to give away powers to spend larger sums of money is incredible if you consider how much debt some councils have accrued.

It's like leaving the sweetie jar open.

One also has to ask, what will happen to the debts if authorities are merged?

Will they get annulled or will the debt become a problem to even more council taxpayers who will end up paying for someone else's financial mismanagement?

The prospect of elected mayors that could 'reign' over large areas or regions, is akin to electing a fiefdom.

Is it right that one person should have so much power and decision making? Also, this not so new idea of devolved powers and regionalisation, comes straight out of the EU playbook.

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Devolving powers down from Westminster is, in my opinion, devolving the responsibility of government.

You may recall the time when Police and Crime Commissioners came into being.

One of the first matters that they had to deal with was the cuts in funding to police forces that came via the Home Office.

The Home Office absolved themselves of blame because it was, 'not their fault', how the PCC spent the money, of which, there wasn't enough.

The same will happen with devolution.

Maybe government should do away with the amount of elections and bureaucracy.

A few years ago, there was much talk about doing away with a tier of local government, i.e. borough councils and sharing their responsibilities between the county councils and parish/town councils.

Electing a third of a council at a time is a costly and time consuming, laborious process. Particularly when you have a council that is unpopular.

Wouldn't the prospect of getting rid of a council at one election likely see a higher turnout if people thought that their vote would actually make a difference.

Maybe Southampton City Council could consider this idea to save money.

John Edwards

Reform UK Southampton