HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Equipping Britain for the Future [February 2000]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 February 2000.

The Chancellor Gordon Brown today spelt out the benefits of devolution and how working together the whole of Britain could rise to the challenge of e-commerce.

Chairing the first Joint Ministerial Committee on the Knowledge Economy, and also the first to be held outside London the Chancellor said:

“Today we are agreeing measures which will help us rise to challenge of e-commerce.

“By 2002 every school to be linked to the Internet. 1,000 computer learning centres throughout the country. 200,000 computers loaned to families who need them. New incentives for small businesses to join the e-commerce revolution.

“Amid the day to day news about devolution, it is important not to lose sight of the longer view.

“The case for devolution starts from the over-centralised, remote and insensitive machinery of government that we inherited in 1997.

“The old uniform and rigid state – with everything directed from London – denied expression to our regions and nations. So devolution does not create new identities within Britain but simply gives democratic expression to existing identities.

“And centralisation did not make for good government, nor does a centralised state reflect lasting and shared British values .

“So there is no question of a dangerous meddling with British traditions and the constitutional reforms we made were not invented in a laboratory. They responded to the strong sense that our constitution should be updated to reflect enduring and shared British values – not least that government should always be close to the people.

“The new democratic constitutional architecture not only rights past wrongs but better equips Britain for the future. The new devolved institutions allow for innovation in policy making.

“The proposed Drugs Enforcement Agency in Scotland may, once up and running, lead the way for the whole country. The Welsh Assembly has introduced new services for the elderly, leading, not least, in concessionary travel. And added to that is the innovative work of regional development agencies in England tackling skill shortages and the investment shortfall in their areas.

“It is good for Britain that new centres of initiative are already developing. Because in the new devolved framework, the whole of Britain can learn and benefit from the distinctive initiatives and energies of each of its parts. In a very real sense the new Britain can draw both from our democracy and our diversity.

“Those who assume that the next stage will be dominated by messy arguments about dividing up the spoils or simply by confrontation are also guilty of being backward looking – still looking only to Whitehall to solve their problems, arguing over who the centre will favour.

“Instead of people looking upwards to Whitehall for their solutions, from region to region, locality to locality, more and more people will themselves take more charge of the decisions that affect their lives. So the next stage will be further devolution and, through, for example, elected mayors, the democratic strengthening of local government.

“This does not threaten Britain – and its democracy – but strengthens it, applying lasting British values to new conditions. So British values and British institutions, until recently increasingly at odds with each other, are now coming together.”