With dwindling public confidence in the integrity of the political system, and growing concerns about the accountability of both the Executive to elected representatives, and the latter to those who elect them, steps are needed to restore trust in politics which is running at record low levels and reverse democratic backsliding and the decline to “elective dictatorship”.

There is a growing consensus that English governance is over-centralised, and that more-or-less radical devolution is required. The possibility of a new government in 2024 creates a unique opening and new impetus for  a radical devolutionary settlement in England.