'Labour's biggest failure is not crushing debt, mass migration or sky-high tax - this failure should worry us more'

Holyrood, proclaimed at its inception to be a break from the Westminster style of politics, with a focus on unity and co-operation in its Parliament and a lessened governmental workload of only a few devolved matters, was supposed to allow a self-governing Scotland to thrive.

Sadly, the reality has left Scotland and her people behind their English cousins in almost every metric as a series of First Ministers consistently choose politics over policy. At the time of writing, the latest in a succession of SNP-led Government has squeaked through a vote of no confidence, sacrificing its Leader in the process, once again leaving Scottish voters in the lurch.

In Wales, where again it was thought that allowing the Senedd powers to focus on Welsh matters for the Welsh. 25-years of Labour-led government has left NHS Wales far behind its English counterpart across the border, pushed countless Welsh children through the lowest-achieving education system in the UK, and resulted in a dearth of affordable homes – all while receiving an £18 billion-a-year subsidy from Westminster. Most heartbreakingly, though, all this is thanks to a referendum no one in Wales wanted, and a tiny minority voted for – a virtue-signal to appease a handful of secessionists.

Even in England, the Blairite devolutionary project has had lasting and damaging effects. The creation of a new London Mayor in 2000 has precipitated a slew of mayoralties across the UK. This week’s local elections introduce the three newest of the bunch in the East Midlands, North of Tyne, and North Yorkshire and York.

I sincerely hope that these new pockets of bureaucracy serve their constituencies better than the cumbersome, undemocratic Mayoralties that have sprung up since Labour first introduced the concept, but the evidence is against them.

Taking my own area of South Yorkshire. Mayor Oliver Coppard, who controls everything from education and employment, to transport and health – as well as having now also taken on the responsibilities for Police and Crime in our area – rules seemingly without challenge. There is no effective means of accountability for these Mayors without the cross-party scrutiny faced by national Government through Parliament.

The only challenge they face is returning to the ballot box every four years, to be re-elected by the tiny proportion of their constituents who turn out to vote.

This is, of course, not to say that English regional devolution has failed unilaterally. Some Mayors have managed to earn a name-recognition and celebrity because of their hard work and efforts to improve their areas in ways the national Government could never have. Notably, Ben Houchen and Andies Burnham and Street have proven that successes can happen; indeed, Boris Johnson’s term as Mayor of London brought a new life and prosperity to the capital that his successor has since lost.

However, what is becoming increasingly obvious is that successful devolution depends on strong, fair, and effective leaders. Where this doesn’t happen where there are consistent and repeated failures, and the lack of meaningful scrutiny inherent to a regional mayoralty means there is little we, as members of these newly invented constituencies, or our councillors and local MPs, can do to hold them to account.

As the Northern Irish Executive struggles to once more to get underway, and all the newly returned Mayors start their new terms, I truly hope all our devolved leaders will show the leadership and vision that a select few have proven is possible and unlock the potential the devolution can bring.

Sadly, however, this seems an unlikely prospect, and we in failing, undemocratic devolved areas have no choice but to dread four more years of expensive failure and damning neglect.