Being for the benefit of..

As the Beatles almost once sang: “You say you want a devolution...’’ The ruling Tory group on Peterborough City Council has been hell-bent on leading us to the promised land Devolution claiming it will unlock untold riches that even Aladdin would be impressed with (Chorus: oh no, he wouldn’t).

Sorry, but it is nearly panto season.

This so-called devolution involves us joining up with our snooty neighbours in the south.

Yes, that’s the same Cambridge that Peterborough battled so hard to separate itself from to become a unitary authority in 1998.

Neighbouring authorities have been unconvinced by the Government devolution offers including Norfolk and Lincolnshire, not least because they don’t want to be lumbered with an elected mayor/poor man’s Boris Johnson.

But Peterborough’s ruling councillors have shown no such qualms and indeed set the ball rolling by agreeing to share its chief executive some months ago.

Does that have the whiff of a done deal?

But wait, the councils conducted a public consultation, even employing some top pollsters, and the results were interpreted as support for the plans.

Remind me again what the pollsters predicted at the last General Election? And Brexit? And Trump vs Clinton?

I’ve been anti-devolution since the plans were first mooted because I believe Peterborough will be shortchanged in comparison to glamorous, hi-tech, prosperous Cambridge.

Peterborough might be Posh but being Cambridge’s poor relation was one of the key reasons behind the desire to go it alone in 1998. So what’s changed?

Whether we like it or not this is Upstairs Downstairs and we all know which is which.

I might be wrong and, who knows, maybe under this deal perhaps we’ll send our homeless folk to be housed in Cambridge?

But history tells us Peterborough gets the raw end of the deal. A reminder of that came this week when Cambridgeshire And Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (notice the ordering of the names) issued a new plan for health services in the area.

In its report, it admitted (although not in so many words) Peterborough had been short-changed in comparison to other parts of the county.

On that Beatles song, John Lennon went on: “You say you got a real solution Well, you know We’d all love to see the plan.’’

We’ve seen this plan, but it’s the soon come reality that worries me.