Monmouth, Cardiff Central and Brecon & Radnor are the constituencies where people in Wales with the greatest power live, according to a report by Demos. In contrast, there is a swathe of ‘powerlessness’ running across the South Wales – from Newport East, in an arc through the Valleys and over to Swansea West. Power, in this study, means control over people’s own lives and not over other people, and it is measured using a range of indicators such as education, occupation, and marginality of (parliamentary) seats.
The report argues that there is a huge and significant ‘power gap’ – not just between different groups of people but between different places as well, with the most powerful people being concentrated into the south east of England. As an argument for devolution it could not be bettered.
David Phillips 6:55 pm on 18 December, 2009 Permalink
Yes, but the “people power” that really matters is not more devolution in the political sense, that is, from Westminster to the devolved assemblies and parliaments in the UK, but rather giving people in their own communities the capacity and freedom to improve their life chances and opportunities.
Encouraging inititiative, self-reliance and opportunity is real power to the people, and is a theme that can be put into practice across Britain, let alone Wales. It could mean communities setting up their own energy generation intitiative or perhaps people having more control over allotments or other similar initiatives that build up a real sense of ownership and civic pride.
Giving people the power to change their community and boost democratic accountability, is a great way to boost life chances and aspiration – and for the many not the few!
Jeff Jones 8:55 am on 21 December, 2009 Permalink
All the list tells us is what we already knew about British society. I really can’t see how it is an argument for devolution,however. The bottom of the list is Glasgow North East followed by Birmingham Hodge Hill and Nottingham North. Cardiff Central on the other hand is above Cambridge in the power stakes. Even Angelsey is 500 in the list compared to Merthyr at 30 and Rhondda at 54. What is interesting is the difference between constituencies which are not that far apart in geographic terms. But unless decision makers concentrate their efforts high up on the powerless stakes then nothing is going to change I’m afraid. Bridgend is at 275 and my own constituency Ogmore is at 87. Yet where has the local council officers decided to concentrate their new bids for convergence money. You’ve guessed it. Bridgend. To make matters worse the bids have nothing to do with raising the econmic capacity of the area. One is for harbour improvements and the other for yet more public realm works. What is required in the north of the area is a massive investment in human capital and improved transport links. But without direction from Cardiff we are never going to get this as local authority officers just chase the money without giving any serious thought for the long term benefits,