A More Collaborative Way of Governing? Why the UK’s Council of the Nations and Regions Matters

One of the first acts of the Starmer government, after its election in July 2024, was to establish a potentially landmark innovation in the UK’s model of territorial government: the Council of the Nations and Regions. 

This report - a collaboration between PolicyWISE and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Cambridge University, provides the first substantial examination of this flagship intergovernmental initiative.

We argue that the new Council is an important innovation, with real potential to improve relationships between and across the UK government and the devolved governments and English mayors.

Depending on how it is developed, it could lead to a new form of collaborative territorial governance, bringing about a culture change in how our governments work in partnership to achieve shared policy goals.

This matters in the context of increased political diversity and the way in which the UK’s devolution settlements have developed, because none of its governing authorities can achieve their key priorities without collaboration with others.

To make the Council work will require flexibility from all its participants, including the UK Government. We make a series of recommendations.

 

Key messages

The Council can improve relationships, and help all governments and regional authorities achieve better outcomes:

  1. Better collaboration

The newly established Council of the Nations and Regions could be a major improvement in collaborative working between governments across the UK. In the past, collaboration between the UK, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments has faced various challenges – this new forum offers a promising opportunity for greater knowledge sharing and more joined-up working.

  1. Representing England

There’s wide support for including England’s regional mayors in this new structure. But the UK Government also needs to be clearer about the two roles it plays: one as the government for the whole UK, and one as the government for England specifically.

  1. A clear mission

The Council should focus on big, long-term issues that affect everyone. It should aim to work in partnership, learning from each other, with governments contributing equally and working toward shared goals. This culture change is necessary for achieving key priorities across the UK.

  1. Working across boundaries

Governments should come together to tackle common problems, whether those issues are officially managed at the UK level or devolved to national and regional governments. More understanding and cooperation between governments would lead to better outcomes.

  1. Learning from international examples

The UK is unusual in how it structures ‘central’ and devolved governments, but international examples can provide useful pointers for how to organise the relationships between different orders of government and facilitate collaboration. 

Authors

Alex Walker, Research Assistant at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. 

Professor Michael Kenny, Inaugural Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. 

Dewi Knight, Director of PolicyWISE, The Open University.

Our funder

The Open University has been awarded £1m in funding from Dangoor Education to establish and run PolicyWISE. The funding has supported the launch of PolicyWISE in 2023 and our development over the following four years.

 

Downloadable Reports

Council of Nations - Executive Summary Report.pdf

The Council of the Nations and Regions Full Report.pdf