Surrey’s Devolution Disagreement

On Tuesday, 7 January 2025, the Leaders of the 11 Surrey District & Borough Councils and the Leader of Surrey County Council met to discuss the English Devolution White Paper and what this would mean for the residents of Surrey.

There was acknowledgement from all the Leaders that the central government is determined to introduce sweeping changes to local government through their plans for devolution and local government reform which will see the district and county councils merged into new unitary councils.

All the Leaders of the Surrey District & Borough Councils expressed their concerns around the pace of change being imposed by central government and that such widespread and significant change needs wider consultation with the residents, stakeholders, and businesses across the County. In addition there was concern that the change, as proposed, will decrease local representation for residents of Surrey.

While the Leaders concluded that there needs to be a dialogue with Surrey County Council on the proposed changes, there was wide agreement that the County Council’s plan to write to the Secretary of State, Jim McMahon MP on Friday 10 January, requesting to postpone the County elections scheduled to take place on 1 May 2025 was not supported by the District & Borough Leaders and would be opposed if submitted.