King's College London

‘Learning from and learning for devolution’ took place on 8 May and brought together a group of King’s academics, politicians, and policy makers from central, devolved, and local government, consultants, and experts from think tanks.

The event was organised by the Centre for British Democracy at King’s in collaboration with Patrick Diamond, of Queen Mary, University of London.

The one-day event – held under the Chatham House rule – aimed to reflect on the experience of devolution and local government in the UK and lessons from abroad, with a view to learning for decentralisation in England and beyond.

Discussion centred on the importance of leadership and multi-level coordination, respect for the allocation of competences and different democratic mandates, fiscal decentralisation, the challenges and opportunities of asymmetric devolution, economic growth and inequality, efficiency of public services, scale of operations, skills development and the knowledge economy, and the role of (party) politics, citizens and democracy.

Participants valued the opportunity for exchange of knowledge and experience, and emphasised the need for more data, research, and exchange to underpin quality decision-making in what is a rapidly developing policy field.