Our letter to the Devolution Minister

10th December 2025

Dear Miatta Fahnbulleh MP,

Unlock Democracy believes that power in our country is too centralised in Whitehall and that meaningful devolution is long overdue.

That’s why we were excited to see the Government promise in its manifesto to "transfer power out of Westminster, and into our communities". 

It was also positive to see swift action on this issue after the election, with the Government declaring that devolving powers to Mayors was critical to the Government’s growth agenda. 

But we are concerned about the recent announcement that four of the six areas on the Government’s priority programme have had their Mayoral elections put back by two years. This is a substantial delay and will greatly limit the amount of devolution that can be delivered by the next General Election as well as restricting growth. 

We are also concerned that the Government, for two years running, has cancelled elections in large parts of the country. This damages our democracy. 

We would be grateful for your response to the following questions:

1. In its manifesto, the Government made it clear that its priority for local government in England was devolution to help drive growth. Yet a year on, it seems that the Local Government Reorganisation programme is now the priority even though it doesn’t deliver growth, and there is little evidence that it will save money. Creating mega-councils of around 500,000 residents moves power away from residents. It is centralisation. Please explain why the priority has changed?

2. If devolution in most of the ‘priority areas’ is not expected until well into 2028, when can the rest of the country expect devolution? Devolving power out of Westminster was promised in Labour's election manifesto, but with a delay of at least two years in the priority areas, it seems unlikely that there will be time in this parliament for meaningful devolution in the rest of England.

3. There have been reports that the Treasury is responsible for delaying these plans due to their cost. Is this true, and if so, how does this align with the Government’s claim that devolution is a key part of its growth strategy?

4. Will you commit to ensuring that the House of Commons gets a vote on any future election postponements or cancellations? 

We look forward to your response to these questions.

Yours sincerely, 

Tom Brake

CEO

Unlock Democracy