Public overwhelmingly back more devolution to cities

More than eight in ten people in city-regions support some form of greater devolution according to new polling from Centre for Cities.

The polling was commissioned ahead of next month’s local elections to understand the impact of devolution and the offices of Mayor in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater London, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, the West Midlands, the West of England and West Yorkshire.

On average, 83 per cent of people in city-regions going to the polls on 6 May support some form of greater devolution, with provision of affordable housing (51 per cent), supporting businesses (47 per cent) and providing access to skills and training (39 per cent) the most common areas that people want to see devolved to local politicians.

Centre for Cities says that the overwhelming support to move power out of Whitehall should encourage the government to publish its delayed white paper on devolution in England and include substantial reforms to the way England is governed.

However, there remains a lack of knowledge surrounding metro mayors. In West Yorkshire, which will choose its first metro-mayor on 6 May, less than half of people (44 per cent) are aware of the election, suggesting that the government must do more work to promote better understanding of recent reforms that introduced metro-mayors.

The poll also sought views on pandemic responses from local leaders. It found that, of all the locally elected mayors, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has the highest approval rating for his handling of the pandemic, with a net approval rating of +42.

Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “People in England’s largest city regions overwhelmingly support shifting power out of Whitehall and down to their communities. Devolving more responsibility for providing affordable housing, supporting businesses and running adult education schemes are all popular with the public.

“At the 2019 election, the government backed the principle of more devolution in England yet, more than a year later, we are still waiting to see what its plans are. As places look to recover from the pandemic, it is vital that the government listens to demands for more devolution and gives mayors and other local leaders the powers and resources to build back better. People want Whitehall to do less, it’s time for it to listen.”