An Open Letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham

Steven N. Adjei — Pharmacist, Entrepreneur & Author of Chasing Permanence   You are about to hand power and billions to Britain's places. Most cannot yet see themselves clearly enough to use either. This is why devolution alone will not be enough, and what has to come first. Prime Minister, You take office having made a promise this country has waited a long time to hear. That power should move out of Whitehall and towards the places where people actually live and trade. That growth cannot be ordered from the top down but nurtured from the bottom up. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, now law, has built the architecture. Your own words have set the direction. The rebalancing is real, and it is welcome. It is also, remarkably, one of the few things this country now agrees on across party lines. But the agreement is on the principle. The devil is in the detail, and harder still, in holding that same agreement steady across hundreds of councils of every politic...