But im proud of the work this government has done to devolve spending powers and real powers to local authorities through the city deals, the devolution of some Decision Making and spending to local enterprise partnerships through the local growth deals, i think these are really good moves. Im delighted that were going to see in Greater Manchester a new Greater Manchester metro there. This is great news. But i dont see the need for a lot of extra tax power, no, im a bit skeptical of it. But who controls the tax . And in reality in england is less than 5 , around 2 of total taxation is actually controlled by local councils. Thats the council tax. Can you have real devolution of powers to local communities unless they have some say over the taxation thats raised in their areas, the rates of it and the amounts . Can the people of england well, if you take away the system works now, what weve tried to do as a government is to make sure theres a better connection between decisions made loca