Birmingham's council leader has called for more radical thinking on devolution and urged ministers not to become “sidetracked” by the English votes for English laws debate.
City Labour leader Sir Albert Bore has also claimed the devolution review, led by William Hague, is not radical enough and that more efforts should be made to break the ‘centralising culture’ of Westminster.
His reaction comes after Mr Hague unveiled his options for English devolution, set up following the Scottish referendum vote. The proposals were focused on answering the West Lothian question – the fact Scottish MPs can vote on English only laws, but English MPs cannot influence laws made in the Scottish Parliament.
But Sir Albert believes the problem is with Westminister having too much sway over major cities and regions like Birmingham and the West Midlands.
The council leader said: “I welcome the tentative first steps the Coalition government have made on the road to localisation through city deals and growth deals. But this paper shows that there is a long way to go before any of the parties are offering the level of real devolution we need to see.
“At the same time there is a real danger that Westminster politicians continue to be distracted by the “English votes for English laws” debate. This is little more than a constitutional sideshow.
“Too much of this paper is about Westminster voting procedures and not enough is about the real lives of the people of the country.”
He said the people of the West Midlands want a greater say on day to day issues like housing, transport and jobs.
“Only a radical devolution of powers and finances can make a real difference to the nation’s economic performance and enable the reform of our public services. This is long overdue in this most centralised of nations, but it is now critical if we are to tackle the deficit, secure balanced growth and ensure sustainable public services into the future.
“Too much of this report is simply a statement of existing policy – there are no radical new ideas on how to devolve power and finances within England.”
He said that, along with leaders of the Black Country and other neighbouring authorities they will be driving ahead with the Combined Authority process and looking to get a better deal from Whitehall and the Treasury – but added that Mr Hague’s proposals “add little to this debate”.
Earlier this month the leader of the House of Commons William Hague set out his options for devolution designed to tackle the issue of having only English MPs voting on English only legislation.
Mr Hague said: “This is a fundamental issue of fairness for all the people of the United Kingdom. Just as the people of Scotland will have more power over their affairs, so it follows the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland must have the opportunity to have a bigger say over theirs.
“The next stage of our constitutional evolution must involve the principle of consent being applied to all parts of the UK.” But while under the post-Scottish referendum devolution plans the Scottish Parliament is being given tax raising powers, there was little for the English regions.
Labour MP Graham Allen, who chairs the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, criticised the plan. He said: “The Hague cabinet committee set up to look at the consequences of the Scottish referendum has instead focused on one tiny Westminster issue and deliberately missed the opportunity to bring planned devolution to England.”
