Manchester leader condems BIS as barrier to devolution

摘要

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has come under fire from a leading advocate of devolution who has accused it of blocking local government's vision. The news comes as the Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said BIS was 'probably the biggest single obstacle in terms of what we want to do'. Speaking to The MJ, Sir Richard said the area of skills was 'pretty much 100% centralised' and called for the Government to prioritise devolution of both powers and funding. He said: 'It's not just the resource - it's the powers as well. We've been making our case for years. Frankly, I've yet to see any rational reason for not devolving skills.