The devolution agenda offers an opportunity to restore faith in politics - Sarah Davidson

The evidence is clear. Our corridors of power aren’t well-connected with the high streets and back streets of England.

This is concerning not only because people should feel like they can make representations on issues that are important to them. But if our political and governmental institutions aren’t connected with the public, they’re more likely to make decisions that are out of sync with the views of the people.

But there’s an opportunity to make some changes, to restore trust, and do things differently.

The UK Government’s English devolution agenda and proposed legislation provides an opportunity to change how we think about government.

We tend to think that democracy happens every four or five years at the ballot box. But what if we changed that and, at key moments, politicians and officials brought groups of people together to meaningfully debate the policies and spending decisions that affect our day-to-day lives.

These initiatives – which include citizens’ juries and panels – give people the means to have an informed debate into the tradeoffs and consequences of key decisions. And our research suggests that if they’re meaningful and well-run, then they can restore trust in politics for the people that participated.

We’ve read with interest about the South Yorkshire’s Citizens’ Assembly on Climate, and examined how the government in Ireland used similar models to break political deadlock on the issue of access to abortion. As the UK Government considers the shape of local and regional government in England, there’s a clear opportunity to try and bake in opportunities for communities to have their say more regularly and in a more structured way than the electoral cycle allows.

Moreover, while the devolution agenda was pitched by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP as a means to “relight growth in every region…”, new political institutions can’t be designed as economic forums alone.

Our Life in the UK Index for England shows that almost a third of people feel that their neighbourhood is unsafe after dark, over a quarter say they can’t afford an unexpected expense of £850, and most people face local problems with litter and noise.

The same research finds disabled people and people on low incomes are much more likely to be living in circumstances that should be unacceptable in the modern age.

While a thriving local economy is crucial to many aspects of our lives, it isn’t the only issue of importance to us and shouldn’t be the sole focus of the government at any level.

Trust in politics and government in England is broken. The UK Government’s devolution agenda offers an opportunity to restore faith but only if it changes how as well as where key decisions are made.

Sarah Davidson is chief executive of wellbeing public policy foundation Carnegie UK.