Peers urge review of which transport powers need to be retained at Westminster

More powers are proposed to be devolved to Wales, and elsewhere - but what needs to be kept at Westminster?

More powers are proposed to be devolved to Wales, and elsewhere - but what needs to be kept at Westminster?

The Government should assess whether devolution of transport and other powers to nations and regions of the U.K will lead to better policy outcomes and "at what level of government the powers in question should be exercised and why".

The Peers note calls for guidance on what policy areas might be included in devolution deals, after the first eight deals mostly included a devolved consolidated transport budget and bus franchising, but do not urge greater standardisation or even a list of powers that could be devolved. They conclude that the benefits of "asymetric devolution" outweigh the disadvantages.

They, do however, say that there should be "a list of core responsibilities" held at Westminster to guarantee "the cohesiveness of the Union" given the devolution settlements currently do not appear to "provide a stable, long-term settlement" and given that devolution thus far was argued to be "instead of satisfying demand, generat[ing] further demand". The Peers noted however, a lack of agreement on whether transport and other economic functions should be exercised by the Union or not, and urge a Government review.

They also say that given powers should be tailored to local needs, this logically means there should be a wider range of governance structures for combined authorities. "The results of pilot citizens' assemblies suggest that although people were generally in favour of the Government's plans for devolution witin England, were not in favour of the specific model on offer... the lack of public engagement is a weakness in the current policy."