Don't doom devolution to counties with mayor demand, Chancellor warned

The Chancellor George Osborne is today urged to accept different modes of governance to directly-elected mayors or else thwart devolution to areas outside conurbations.

The Institute of Public Policy Research said the Government seems to prefer devolution proposals from large-scale combined authorities coterminous with local enterprise partnership areas, and is clearly "closely wedded to the idea of directly-elected mayors for anything other than very modest devolutionary proposals". This overlooks the complexities of governance in two-tier areas, the think-tank says.

In a string of recommendations that are a shot above the bows for a Chancellor who has hailed a "devolution revolution," the IPPR challenges him to demonstrate commitment "to a range of different models of governance" and to clarify which powers he is prepared to devolve. To continue a focus on "getting a quick deal done," it says, will leave many "treating English devolution as a cynical transfer of powers between national and local political elites".