Government to ‘devolve more control of culture’

The culture sector is one of a number of policy areas the government is intending to devolve greater power over to local areas, it has been announced.

Delivering a speech at the Convention of the North in Manchester, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he wants to "deepen and broaden" devolution.

He said this meant looking at policy areas beyond those already identified in last year's Levelling Up White Paper.

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"The Levelling Up White Paper outlined powers we also plan to devolve which extend far beyond those directly within the control of my department," Gove said.

"Which is why we are also looking to devolve more control over further and technical education, transport, trade, culture and employment support."

No detail on what form this could take was given.

Trevor MacFarlane, Founding Director of policy group Culture Commons, welcomed the broad intention to devolve culture policy.

“This will be rightly seen as a significant win for Metro Mayors and leaders right across the North of England who have been pushing for the devolution of cultural policy and spending powers for some time," he said.

"What is now clear is that devolution is understood to be an imperative part of the next election narrative across the two main political parties.

"Culture Commons will continue to engage with colleagues across the UK Government to understand what the devolution of cultural policy actually looks like in practice – including appropriate funding support and how local people can have more of a say in cultural programming.”

Gove's speech comes three weeks after Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer set out his vision for a future Labour government, pledging to introduce a 'Take Back Control' bill that would redistribute decision making power away from Westminster in several policy areas, including culture.