CRUMBRIA: 26/07/2025
TWO of our weekly newspapers have dropped a bollock of the stupid variety by managing to entirely forget the screaming results of a massive public consultation into Devolution.
In a grassroots rebellion, the majority of more than 1,200 people in Cumbria responding to the Government survey have told politicians in no uncertain terms that they do not want a Mayor or an MCA.
Not that you would know this from this weekend’s editions of The Crumbling News, Carlisle, or The Slumberland & Westmoreland Imperilled, Penrith!
They both ran prominent ‘Devo’ stories this week and somehow managed to forget to mention this significant development, even though the results have been in the public domain since last week (July 17).
In its July 25 edition, The Crumbling News gave the very distinct impression of having done a deep dive into Devolution by dedicating its full-page “agenda” section to the subject.
A deep dive it was not, and Agenda is precisely the word we’d use!
The newspaper’s “feature” was cobbled together from the official joint council press release issued a week last Thursday.
It notified the media that the 2026 Mayoral Election had been postponed until 2027. What it skilfully did not do was highlight what both Councils have now been told by the public in the hugely embarrassing survey results.
Answer: “The Cumbrian public doesn’t want a mayor!”
Instead, CN’s feature drew heavily on flowery and uplifting quotes about Devolution from Cllr Mark Fryer, leader of Labour-daft Crumberland Council, who appears hell bent on pressing ahead.
The rest of the “feature” was padded out with unnecessary flashbacks to statements made by Deputy PM Angela Rayner about the benefits of devolution, with a tiny token quote at the end from Reform Cumbria to give the impression of neutrality.
(The view of Tories in Cumbria was deemed unworthy of the Agenda feature. A strong Conservative reaction sent in to the paper was instead relegated to the Letters page!)
Joint winner in our Piss Poor Weekly Journalism Awards was the reliably behind-the-times Penrith snoozepaper, The Slumberland & Westmoreland Imperilled.
Page one of its July 26 edition also carried a Devolution story headlined “Mayoral election date change”.
Again, it was more mutton dressed as lamb. The date change news has been in circulation for more than a week and reported by all of its rivals.
The Imperilled’s story, featuring only a Lib Dem viewpoint this time (natch), was again a light-touch rehash of the official Council line. It spoke glowingly of the Devolution process having “reached the next stage”.
(Yes, the massive delay stage!)
Again, The Imperilled had plenty of time to find the consultation feedback from the public, yet for reasons best known to itself, it did not.
The Chronic has warned, time and again, that our media is not doing its job on Devolution.
This weekend’s papers proved that theory beyond doubt.
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Anyway, for your delectation, we have pulled together the tell-tale consultation results you need to see.
These results are from the perspective of the 1,200+ members of the public who took part, and the four parish councils and two town councils which bothered to fill in the Government’s questionnaire.
Q1: To what extent do you agree or disagree that establishing a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) will deliver benefits to the area?
Public: 58% disagree. Parish councils: 100% disagree.
Q2: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposed governance arrangements for the MCA?
Public: 59% disagree. Parish councils: 75% disagree.
Q3: To what extent do you agree or disagree that an MCA will support the economy of the area?
Public: 56% disagree. Parish councils: 75% disagree.
Q4: To what extent do you agree or disagree that an MCA will improve social outcomes in the area?
Public: 57% disagree. Parish councils: 50% disagree.
Q5: To what extent do you agree or disagree that an MCA will improve local government services in the area?
Public: 61% disagree. Parish councils: 75% disagree.
Q6: To what extent do you agree or disagree that an MCA will improve the local natural environment and overall national environment?
Public 63% disagree. Parish councils: 100%.
Q7: To what extent do you agree or disagree that an MCA will support the interests and needs of local communities and reflect local identities?
Public: 63% disagree. Parish councils: 100%.
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