A distinctive rural
devolution offer

1. Purpose and objectives

The purpose of this short, focused study by the Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG) is to develop a distinctive and practical rural devolution offer that can inform immediate UK Government policy decisions.

 

The study will build on the Government’s commitment to deliver for rural communities, recognising that devolution must work for all parts of the country, not simply replicate models developed primarily for cities and large urban areas.

 

The central questions are simple: how should rural devolution look and feel different from urban devolution, and what unique offers should it contain for rural communities?

 

These questions may not feel too dissimilar to previous research conducted by the LRRG or other parliamentary groups, but we want to engage as many rural stakeholders as quickly as possible, using the LRRG’s established network which has helped to produce welcomed studies into rural poverty and the future of the rural economy.

 

At a high level, the study will:

 

• Identify where existing devolution arrangements, funding models and institutional structures fail to reflect rural needs, opportunities and geography.

• Establish the specific powers, resources, flexibilities and governance arrangements that could constitute a distinctive rural devolution offer.

• Explore how rural devolution can unlock economic growth, improve public services, strengthen local accountability and empower rural communities.

• Develop a small number of clear, actionable recommendations for ministers, prioritising measures that could be adopted or initiated immediately.

 

This is intended to be a short, sharp piece of research, not a comprehensive review of devolution and its principles. Its primary purpose is to provide timely, evidence-based support to key decision-makers within the Labour Government, demonstrating how a more nuanced approach to devolution can deliver better outcomes across different types of places.

 

2. Scope

The study will focus on the next wave of devolution arrangements and deals, particularly in England, while drawing targeted contributions and relevant lessons from rural Scotland and Wales. It will seek to recognise the distinct constitutional and institutional settlements across the UK, rather than treating them as interchangeable. However, this comparative element will remain tightly focused on practical lessons for emerging rural devolution offers, rather than becoming a general review of devolved government.

 

It will consider rural, coastal and semi-rural communities, including those located within predominantly urban combined authority areas, and examine how devolution can respond to differences in geography, population density, economic structure and access to services. It will explicitly examine mixed urban–rural strategic authority areas, including majority-rural, majority-urban and broadly balanced groupings, and how rural needs can be recognised regardless of the overall classification of an authority.

 

Particular attention will be given to:

 

1. Powers and responsibilities: Whether rural areas require different or additional devolved powers, particularly in relation to transport, housing, planning, skills, energy, land use and economic development.

2. Funding and investment: How funding settlements, investment criteria and appraisal processes can better reflect dispersed populations, higher unit costs, infrastructure gaps and the economic potential of rural areas.

3. Governance and accountability: How mayoral strategic authorities, county and district councils, parish and town councils, and community organisations can work together to ensure rural voices influence decisions. This includes safeguards against rural communities being subsumed within urban-led authorities, and consideration of whether decisions affecting remote rural areas are sufficiently decentralised within existing devolved nations.

4. Public service delivery: How devolution can enable different models of service provision, including distributed services, community-led delivery and better integration across administrative boundaries.

5. Economic growth and opportunity: How rural devolution can support farming, food production, small businesses, tourism, clean energy and other rural industries, recognising that rural economic development may require different interventions from urban agglomeration-led growth.

 

The study will not seek to reopen the entire national debate about devolution or local government structures. Instead, it will identify practical differentiation within the Government’s existing and emerging devolution framework. A particular emphasis on the short-term offer to non-mayoral areas would be welcomed. Targeted evidence from Scotland and Wales, where shared, will be used to test lessons on rural access to decision-making and local empowerment, without expanding the study into a full review of their constitutional settlements.

 

3. Key research questions

Contributors will be asked to focus on the following questions:

 

1. What is fundamentally different about rural devolution? Which characteristics of rural communities require a different approach from that adopted in urban areas, and where are existing devolution models insufficient?

2. What should a unique rural devolution offer contain? Which specific powers, funding arrangements, flexibilities or institutional mechanisms would make the greatest difference to rural communities?

3. How should rural devolution feel different to residents and businesses? What tangible improvements should people experience in their everyday lives, and how can decision-making become more responsive to smaller, dispersed communities?

4. How can rural voices be protected and strengthened through devolution? What mechanisms would ensure that rural communities are not overlooked within larger strategic authorities, particularly where population-based representation favours urban centres? How should rural representation and funding be protected in mixed urban–rural areas, including where an urban hub sits alongside several rural authorities?

5. What can the Government do now? Which changes could be delivered through existing policy, guidance, funding settlements or devolution agreements, and which would require longer-term legislative or structural reform? Which practical lessons from Scotland and Wales, including concerns raised about centralised decision-making within devolved nations, should inform the design of new rural devolution arrangements?

 

Contributors should explicitly distinguish between measures that would benefit all devolved areas and those that represent a genuinely distinctive rural offer. Recommendations should not simply amount to requests for additional funding or an extension of emerging urban programmes into rural places. What makes rural devolution interesting and exciting but different?

 

4. Outputs

The primary output will be a short policy paper, designed to be accessible to the wider Labour movement while providing robust evidence and clear policy direction. The paper will set out:

 

• The case for a distinctive rural devolution offer.

• The key differences between rural and urban devolution. This will ideally include a concise comparison of majority-rural, majority-urban and broadly balanced strategic authority groupings, considering dispersed populations, higher delivery costs and fragmented services.

• A proposed package of priority policy recommendations.

• Where possible, the practical actions required to implement each recommendation, including responsible departments or institutions, where identifiable.

• A distinction between immediate administrative or policy changes and reforms requiring longer-term consideration.

 

The recommendations should be sufficiently specific to inform Government decisions, rather than simply establish principles for further discussion.

 

5. Audience and use

The primary audience will be ministers, senior officials and policy advisers responsible for devolution, local government, rural affairs, economic growth and public service reform.

 

The study will seek to provide immediate policy support, helping the Government demonstrate that its approach to devolution is not one-size-fits-all but reflects the different circumstances and potential of rural and urban Britain.

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6. Principles

The study will be guided by the following principles:

 

• Evidence-led analysis grounded in lived experience of rural communities.

• Recognition of the diversity of rural places and the need for place-based solutions. Particular attention will be paid to rural communities within mixed urban–rural authorities, where an aggregate urban designation could obscure rural circumstances.

• Integration of economic, social and environmental objectives.

• A focus on long-term sustainability alongside immediate policy action.

 

The July 2026 publication of The Future of Rural England, produced by the Rural Taskforce, provides important context for this work. The Government has committed to establishing a cross-government board, strengthening rural proofing and reporting annually on progress. The paper also explicitly recognises the importance of ensuring rural communities can engage with and benefit from devolution.

 

Contributions to this LRRG study should, therefore, be positioned as a practical contribution to implementing that commitment, rather than a competing review. Its distinctive value will be to translate the Government’s broad rural ambitions into a specific, deliverable devolution offer that ministers can take forward.

 

In particular, the study should test whether a differentiated approach can be achieved through existing devolution arrangements or whether new mechanisms are required. The intended outcome is a Government easily able to explain not only that rural communities will benefit from devolution, but precisely how its offer to rural Britain is different, why that difference matters, and what it will deliver.

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Please send all contributions to info@labourruralresearchgroup.com by Wednesday 11th November 2026 at 5pm. Thank you.

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