Command and control from London runs England, but that must stop: give the people money and power | Vernon Bogdanor

Labour ’s white paper proposes a constitutional settlement extending devolution to the whole of England .

The case for devolution is the stimulus it offers to local patriotism and pride in the development of public services.

Devolution in England began with the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act of 2016, the brainchild of the Conservative chancellor George Osborne .

A central/local concordat should be embodied in a constitution, but short of that, a charter could provide principled guidelines, a roadmap of the workings of government and the territorial division of power appropriate to a multinational state.

So two cheers for the white paper, but not yet three , says Vernon Bogdanor .