What's in a name? Quite a lot when it comes to a piece of legislation that will form the basis of devolving powers. At the start of last month we heard all about a 'devolution bill' for cities being put forward that would transfer a whole host of responsibilities to combined authorities only in those areas. But in the Queen's speech came that small but significant name change, with the legislation being named the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill. In the wake of the speech it quickly became clear that the bill made specific references to counties both in its detail and quotes from ministers about two-tier areas. Those acknowledgements were certainly positive steps forward and underpin an encouraging move towards taking devolution to all comers of the country.
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