Give metro mayors more power, says Heseltine

Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine has said that Britain’s metro mayors should be given greater powers over housing, schools and jobs.

Heseltine’s new report, Empowering English Cities, commissioned by the West Midlands Combined Authority, sets out a series of proposals to boost city regions and devolve further funding and powers from government.

In total, there are 20 proposals which include: the government transfering day-to-day responsibility for affordable housing, school performance, skills and employment programmes to combined authorities; mayoral combined authorities to have greater powers to raise local taxes; more capital funding for transport, skills and housing to be devolved from government departments; and for a new government Department for the English Regions, led by a Cabinet minister and a Metro Mayors committee chaired by the Prime Minister.

Following interviews with mayors of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, West of England and West Midlands, the paper concludes that, despite early success, progress has stalled in recent years with national political attention focused on Brexit. Heseltine’s radical proposals talk about embedding the role of cites in government while moving funding, powers and staff away from Whitehall to the regions.

He said: “There is no single solution to tackling these economic challenges. If our great city-regions are once again to become the engines of economic growth for our country, it will require long term and enduring partnership work between the private sector and all levels of government, ensuring that city-regions have a good supply of skilled labour; are well connected; have land available for homes and employment; have rich, innovation ecosystems, often built around a university; and have an attractive cultural offer for their communities.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Devolution has led to billions of pounds of investment and new powers handed down to the region, meaning we are not consumed by the Brexit logjam of Westminster and can carry on delivering for our regions. This new report shows how the next Prime Minister can continue the hard work done by Lord Heseltine and others to really empower city regions in England. I wholeheartedly support the recommendations.”