Express & Star

An Anglo-Saxon solution to a 21st century problem might just work

The kingdom of Mercia rising up to challenge the expansionist West Midlands Combined Authority has a certain romance to it.

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Of course it's really rather more bureaucratic than that.

They don't see themselves as part of what is commonly known as the West Midlands.

Nor do they want to be left behind to become a leafy meat in the sandwich of a Northern Powerhouse and a Midlands Engine.

The rural counties are facing the same dilemma that the Black Country and Birmingham had a year ago.

If they do not throw their lot in with someone, they risk losing out on investment and powers to the likes of Greater Manchester.

But they also have their own pride and their own identities.

Similarly, they have their own separate issues.

Staffordshire is not Birmingham, even if many people in some parts of it happen to work in the second city.

So the suggestion by MPs Gavin Williamson, Jeremy Lefroy and Karen Bradley is for Staffordshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to join forces in a 'Mercian economic partnership'.

Mercia is a much nicer name than West Midlands Combined Authority, or WMCA, which calls to mind the Village People ('Yung mon, there's a place yow con goo').

The WMCA itself seems to be racing ahead, if the leaked document about its bid for devolved powers is anything to go by.

No-one connected with the WMCA is allowed to talk about what is meant to be a work in progress, but it is a fascinating insight into the thinking of the council leaders of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley, Coventry and Solihull.

For a start, until this document came to light there was no firm plan to accept an elected mayor.

Now we find the first citizen of the West Midlands is not only very much on the cards but also set to have the power to levy council tax.

And there's an ambitious bid for millions of pounds of taxpayers' money to make the M6 Toll free to use.

If it is accepted it is a sign of the scale of decision making, and financial clout, that can be concentrated in the hands of local politicians.

And it might well put paid to any suggestions of reviving the Western Orbital Route. But as I've asked before, would the Chancellor go for it? Nationalising a private company doesn't sound particularly Tory. Yet if it's in the powers of a democratically elected regional mayor, George Osborne can shrug and wash his hands of the whole thing.

Another thing we learned this week was that Telford and Wrekin wants in to the WMCA, following Cannock Chase and Tamworth.

The three won't be full members, but rather 'non-constituent' ones. What that means is a seat at the table and voting rights, but no involvement in the devolution deal. That leaves them free to sign up to the Staffordshire MPs' grand Mercia plan as well.

It's all starting to get a little messy and convoluted. There's also still the issue of a small but vocal group of people who feel rather cheated that they will not get a referendum on the matter.

And there's the rub on devolution.

It's all meant to be about democracy and putting power in the hands of the people.

As things stand, however, everyone's going to get what no-one voted for.

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