I’ve just been reading the Resolution Foundation Growth without Gain report like every other left-wing blogger. Here’s something interesting. About economics and the success or failure of New Labour’s administrative devolution. Don’t all rush at once.
You read that right – between 2003 and 2008, disposable income in the UK fell on average by 1.1% annually. Anyway, this leapt out at me: the only three regions to see actual growth in their take-home pay were London, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Of the rest, the least bad was Wales, which at least beat the spread if it didn’t get into positive territory. All four above-average performers have devolved administrations. The data only runs up to 2008, so we don’t get to see what having administration that’s devolved in the political sense, run by someone who’s devolved as in Devo or the opposite of evolved, will do for you.
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