Moorlands MP, Dame Karen Bradley spoke during the Statement in Parliament earlier this week on devolution.
Karen said,
"The residents of Staffordshire Moorlands do not want to be consumed into Stoke-on-Trent.
"Can the Minister guarantee that they will not be forced into a devolution deal against their will, and that decisions that matter to them will continue to be taken in the Moorlands and not in Stoke-on-Trent?"
The Minister's response:
"I do not want to get myself into neighbourhood disputes—there are not enough hours in the day. I hope that it will be clear from reading the White Paper that this is not a forcing together, but a genuine distribution of power from a centralising state to communities where it really matters. My hope is that local disputes, some of which I am sure are well rehearsed and go back a long time, are put to one side. In the end, the prize is the greater good, which is for the benefit of all."
