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Devolution will keep Britain together, says bishop

Rt Rev David Walker was speaking before the Chancellor George Osborne was due to deliver a speech in Manchester about devolving more powers and funding to northern English cities.

Bishop David also said "for far too long Britain had been too centrally governed" and that devolution was a "good thing".

He added that he hoped devolving powers would help join up health and social care, stopping some people who don't get the help they need from suffering.

George Osborne's speech was part of his plans for what he calls the "Northern Powerhouse", which aims to decrease the North-South economic divide by increasing the money-making abilities of cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

They include giving directly-elected mayors powers over housing, transport, planning and policing.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which contains the City of Manchester and nine other satellite cities and towns which make up the Greater Manchester area, will be the first northern city to elect their mayor in 2017 after agreeing the move last year.

It's despite the City of Manchester itself voting against having a directly-elected mayor in 2012.

The new powers will give the GMCA control of £2bn more funding.

The Labour Shadow Chancellor Chris Leslie called the move "piecemeal", and said his party supports genuine devolution to all parts of the UK.

He also said that coalition spending cuts in the last Parliament hit the North of England the hardest, and that we're still unaware of how future spending cuts will affect the North.

Rt Rev David Walker told Premier's News Hour: "Well I'm glad that the Greater Manchester Area is to get some greater devolution. A principle that Christians have often drawn on is called subsidiarity - that decisions about the way in which our societies are governed and led should be taken as locally as commensurate with good governance.

"I think people in Manchester would probably feel that too many decisions about the North of England are made too far away from the North of England, and so anything that makes those decisions taken more locally is going to be a good thing...

"Devolution in Scotland and Wales is not the stepping stone to independence and the break-up of the UK, it's the alternative. It's recognising that for far too long we've been far too centrally governed... That will help to hold us together as a nation."

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speaking to Rt Revd David Walker on the News Hour:

 
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