Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday ask all towns and cities in England not covered by devolution deals to form groups to bid for new powers of their choice, as he launches the party’s local elections campaign.
Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner will say more areas can gain new powers and influence by forming so-called combined authorities that would assume some responsibilities currently exercised by Westminster.
They will also pledge that existing combined authorities — consisting of groups of councils working together, often alongside a mayor — will secure greater control over policies affecting transport, skills, housing, planning, employment support and energy.
Starmer will describe Labour’s plans as “a full-fat approach to devolution”, saying democratic decisions are better made by local people with “skin in the game”.
Starmer and Rayner will say that under a Labour government all combined authorities — whether new or old — will be required by statute to develop “local growth plans” setting out how they plan to kick-start growth.
If Labour wins the next election, it will establish a “presumption towards moving power out of Westminster” and will seek to move away from a model that promotes competition between councils, Rayner said.
She told the Financial Times the precise powers given to new combined authorities — which should be based on “sensible economic geographies” — would be determined on an ad hoc basis based on what councils feel they need the most.
“It’s a negotiation, that’s the whole point,” she said, adding she did not want it to be “paternalistic”.
“What I’m hoping is that we can embrace co-operation across those authorities, across those towns, so that we can really tackle some of the challenges we face, like skills, employment, and transport, which often cover more than just one geographical patch,” Rayner said.
Labour is more than 20 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls and is expected to make big gains in the local elections on May 2.
The party is hoping to topple Tory mayor Andy Street in the West Midlands, and to make inroads in the Tees Valley against Conservative mayor Ben Houchen.
Starmer will on Thursday accuse the government of failing to deliver on its flagship pledge at the 2019 general election to “level up” England’s regions, which was made by the then prime minister Boris Johnson.
The Labour leader will claim the gap between gross domestic product per head in London and every other English region has increased since the Tories came to power in 2010.
“Levelling-up . . . is a good ambition for Britain. But it requires not just a new plan but also a fundamental shift in how we govern,” Starmer will say.
Michael Gove, levelling-up secretary, said Labour’s last period in office from 1997 to 2010 had minimal devolution beyond the M25.
“Since the publication of the levelling-up white paper two years ago, devolution has been extended across two-thirds of England, and 90 per cent of the north, with more to come,” he added.
“Any fair observer would recognise the scale of transformation we are delivering.”