King’s Speech: Devolution is answer to economic equality
17 July 2024 14:09
Comments (28)
An English Devolution Bill will be introduced by Labour to enable “greater devolution of decision making,” one of dozens of new bills coming forward in the next parliamentary session.
The Government said in its accompanying notes to the devolution bill that although “almost half of England’s population” live in a devolved area, “the inconsistent, deal-based and patchwork approach has left too many levers for growth in the hands of central government”.
Ministers now recognise the link between “geographic inequality” and the centralised economy in England. The bill will aim to transfer power out of Westminster into local communities to close that gap.
The English Devolution Bill will:
- Put a “more ambitious standardised devolution framework” into law to give “greater powers” to local leaders “over strategic planning, local transport networks, skills and employment support”
- Introduce “new powers and duties for local leaders to produce Local Growth Plans”
- Make devolution the default setting. No more need for negotiated agreements where areas meet governance conditions. Additional powers can be requested, and government will either extend devolved powers or “publicly explain their reasons for not doing so”
- Simplify the process for creating new combined authorities, “to ensure that every part of England can rapidly benefit from devolution,” going wider and deeper where mayors want to advance the ambition and capacity of devolution
- Empower local communities with “a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces”
Other highlights of the King’s Speech
Planning
- “Modernising planning committees” and “increasing capacity” inside local planning authorities
- “Using development to fund nature recovery,” over the summer the government will work with nature delivery stakeholders to find the best route forward that can deliver “positive environmental outcomes”
- Reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to make payouts to landowners “fair but not excessive” where “social and physical infrastructure and affordable housing are being delivered”
- “Streamline delivery” of “critical infrastructure” to upgrade the national grid and boost renewable energy, with improved National Policy Statements updated every five years
Transport
- Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel the second phase of HS2 from Crewe to Manchester will not be reversed. Instead, Labour is “repurposing the…bill to provide powers to construct and operate rail projects which improve east to west connectivity across the North of England,” opening the way for Northern Powerhouse Rail from Liverpool to Leeds
- Powers will be brought in to deliver “key infrastructure” in the North including new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport
- “Early step” towards reform of railways, where a public sector operator would eventually be the default position not a last resort
- First railway operator contracts will be brought back into public ownership “as soon as possible”
- Bus reform to deliver new powers to local leaders to franchise local bus services and lift restrictions on creation of publicly owned bus operators
Energy
- Great British Energy, a new clean energy company, will “develop, own and operate assets”, funded by £8.3bn of new money in this Parliament
- GBE will take stakes in “projects and supply chains” that accelerate related technologies
- Crown Estate will be allowed to borrow money. As owner of the seabed this means the Crown Estate will be able to invest more in offshore windfarms
Education
- Remove the exemption from VAT on private school fees, funding 6,500 new teachers
- Establish Skills England with a new partnership with employers and reform the apprenticeship levy
Housing
- Reintroduction of mandatory housebuilding targets, with a focus on variety of types of homes to meet local demand
- Give “greater rights and protections to people renting their homes” including ending no fault evictions. Draft legislation will be published on leasehold and commonhold reform
- Consult on how to “restrict the sale of new leasehold flats” to encourage homeownership
- Regulate ground rents and end unaffordable ground rent increases
Come on Manchester. Do what you do best and grab this opportunity by the cajones.
By Macho City
Time to get that Lancashire Devo Deal over the line. Then it can be greatly boosted after the Combined Authority is established.
Also, Cumbrian and Cheshire & Warrington Devo deals.
By Rye
And without a doubt Manchester can be the default capital of the north with Liverpool as its poor relation
By L1 rider
How nice it is to have a government that isn’t trying to destroy Britain at every opportunity. Hope restored! We need to ensure mega Devolution is enshrined in law before the Conservatives return to power, else they will simply use the regions as target practice again as they always do
By Anonymous
So the most successful city in regional Britain, is still not on a High Speed line to the most successful city in Europe. However, they are doing up Piccadilly.
By Elephant
VAT on private schools is a disgrace, they already got rid of the 11 plus, the greatest leveller we had in education
By Anonymous
@July 17, 2024 at 4:13 pm
By Anonymous
Do you mean grammar schools? Germany has grammar schools but without the 11-plus.
Trafford has grammar schools. We also have free schools, based on the Swedish model which are also good.
By Rye
@July 17, 2024 at 4:04 pm
By Elephant
It was never going to come back. But a new Piccadilly is well overdue and the new manifestation of NPR is, I believe, the right approach. In the age of hybrid working, HS2 is actually too slow.
By Rye
Manchester is not the most successful city in regional Britain, education and healthcare is one of the worst
By Anonymous
Time for Cheshire East, West and Warrington to step up to the plate on devo.
By Rich X
Do they mean new *platforms* at Piccadilly and Manchester Airport? Or really new stations?
By David
Elefant: The most successful city in Europe? You mean Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, Munich, Copenhagen? Let us re-open the closed fast electric rail route Manchester to Sheffield first and help build a booming Northern-wide economy.
By Anonymous
Re HS2 – oh dear, the government is kicking the can down the road and failing to address the capacity constraints on the west coast mainline for which HS2 would’ve been the ideal silver bullet (train). HS2 must and will come back in one form or another, it’s just that it will be even more expensive.
By Anonymous
I don’t think this country realises just how beneficial an S Bahn / Overground system in every major city would benefit the entire UK. Such an easy solution that would benefit so many people for employment opportunities and take unnecessary traffic off the roads
By Quail
Lancashire is a mess , they need local government reorganisation to establish 4/5 unitary authorities to get a solid foundation to a combined authority and a mayor . The current proposal excludes district council which although understandable is both inefficient and makes fir instability
By George
HS3 starting at Liverpool via Liverpool John Lennon ……
By Anonymous
Two economically significant rail improvements would be the electrification of the Wrexham to Liverpool line (long, long mooted) and a rail connection from Liverpool to Speke airport.
By Old Hack
Time for West Lancs and Warrington to join the Liverpool city region. They are already associate members of the Combined Authority. What are they waiting for.
By DefoDevo
I am not talking about European cities with nice Christmas markets, Anon at 5.13pm.
By Elephant
Time for Warrington to join the Manchester City Region. Makes sense given the economic linkages to GM
By Anonymous
@ DefoDevo ..Does West Lancs and Warrington want to join the Liverpool city region? I know I don’t!!!
By Warrington Lymm
I don’t think electrifying the Wrexham to Liverpool line would be a good use of public fund, who would even use that?
By Big Dub
Devolution could perhaps pave the way for the Wirral in rejoining its geographical area again in a combined Cheshire authority.
By Anonymous
To join the Liverpool City region!?…heavens no why hitch us to that particular cart. You might as well say time for us and Liverpool to join Greater Manchester. ie clearly never going to happen. However……..
By Anonymous
If Manchester is the economic powerhouse of the north we need to have the connectivity from all points of the compass in and out of the city centre transport hubs. Get this l right and you connect the major centres right through east and west from Merseyside to Yorkshire. This needs to stop being a plan and start happening.
By Ta dah
Time for Blackburn and Darwen to join Greater Manchester and Southport where Andy Burnham wants to control the rail line to Manchester
By Fred Mount
1)Mid cheshire has been waiting decades for electrification of trainline we’ve been in tier 1 forever.
2). Middlewich (new train station along with the
re opening of trainline from crewe to Northwich
New 3.5mile western airport link from Mobberley to the airport station (The platform for the link was put in over 20 years ago)
If labour doesn’t do any of these they will know about it in the next general election
By Northwich
Old Dub questions who would use an electrified line from Wrexham. We’ll all those in the Wirral who either change irregular trains at Bidston or go to Hooton to get straight in to Liverpool.
By the way the new name for Merseyrail etc is a nonsense it should be simply called Merseytravel. Too complicated and very clumsily expensive rebranding. I don’t live in the Liverpool city region but in Cheshire West.
By Old Hack