There is something slightly nasty about capital cities. They are usually the administrative, economic and social centres of a country, and it is not unreasonable for those living elsewhere to resent the attention-hogging. The problem is pretty acute in the UK: despite embarrassing bending-over-backwards attempts by certain parts of the media to appear all regional, both politics and the associated journalism it is quite demonstrably London-centric.

The simple reason why, of course, is that it is a far more efficient way to do business. Journalists cannot keep offices in Yorkshire if they need to schmooze with politicians in Westminster. Cabinet cannot meet in Cornwall if ministers have departments to look after in Lanarkshire and Parliament to attend in Pembrokeshire. Not to mention, of course, their Norfolk constituency.

Thus any decentralisation of government would have to be carefully calculated to as to be an efficient process of representation and decision-making. Gordon Brown’s (stolen?) idea of roving Cabinet meetings is quite obviously stupid in both of these regards. It is the ultimate gimmick that has been thought through about as carefully as his “first year in office” strategy.

Areas of the UK outside London do not often get the full attention of Government, and that is a great shame. But having the entire Cabinet trundle up north somewhere, welcoming cameras for two minutes of smiles, and then shutting the doors for a private meeting is not what the country needs. (At this point, it is probably worth suggesting that Brown is planning a “oh, look, it’s September and I am still PM and the Cabinet is all happy and smiling for the cameras” strategy. The media would not buy it in Westminster, but any excuse to appear “regional” will doubtless be seized by the horns.) What the country needs is Cabinet ministers regularly holding town hall meetings across the country. Just as the BBC’s Question Time tours the UK bringing (sometimes) sensible debate to different areas of the country, so the government should encourage such local debate and discussion. To be fair, it seems as if Spetember’s Cabinet outing to the West Midlands will include a photo-op of some “outreach” mission so ministers can “listen” to local people’s concerns. But even if this were genuine, not just a cheap photo-op, it would be no replacement for open debate of issues. And proper contact with people on a local level is what is needed.

It is not too much to ask that 25 town halls across the UK each have two meetings a month, with Cabinet ministers cycling through them twice each year. A six-monthly feedback session and discussion of new areas of their briefs in each area of the country would be a brilliant way to keep ministers on their toes. It would force them to “listen” to the electorate. It might seem time-consuming, but it is only asking for one evening (or weekend afternoon) out of fourteen for a bit of local accountability. I cannot imagine that it would make government less effective. If government, and, indeed, Her Majesty’s Opposition, wishes to engage with real people and real issues, they should spare a few hours each fortnight to get debating and discussing in town halls around the country.