How the next government should complete the job of English devolution

This report calls on the next government to reset the English devolution agenda and puts forward 30 proposals – which can and should be implemented over the next five years – to complete a “job half done” with a new deal for England.

Metro mayors have already shown how they can improve regional economic performance – by improving transport systems, investing in training for the jobs of the future or leading major urban renewal projects. But the map of English devolution is an incomplete patchwork of mismatched deals, the powers and funding devolved are still inadequate for the job at hand, and the entire devolution agenda is vulnerable to shifting Westminster priorities.

Completing the English devolution map, expanding the powers of existing mayors and putting devolution on a firmer footing would help a Conservative government revitalise its stalled levelling up objectives or a Labour government achieve its long-term mission to deliver sustained growth.  

The report says that over the course of the next parliament the next government should: 

• Extend devolution to at least 85% of England’s population, with devolution to England’s remaining large urban areas – such as Leicester and Southampton – prioritised in the first half of the parliament.
• Publish a complete and final map of the boundaries for English devolution – with boundaries determined by reference to a clear decision-making framework.  
• Expand the ‘trailblazer’ devolution offer to Greater Manchester and West Midlands to include strategic spatial planning, employment support, apprenticeships levy funding and R&D budgets, with greater spending flexibility than current rules allow.
• Agree a new wave of trailblazer deals, incorporating ‘single departmental settlement’ funding, in places like Liverpool City Region, West and South Yorkshire, the North East and Tees Valley.
• Trial tax-sharing with leading combined authorities, for instance by devolving a small share of national insurance revenue, to strengthen incentives for local leaders to boost job creation.
• Legislate to put devolution on a firmer statutory footing, with a legal right for all parts of England to take on devolved powers.
• Hold a Prime Minister-Metro Mayors summit held within two months of taking office – and on an annual basis thereafter – and a new set of minister-mayoral committees in key policy areas, to send a signal that metro mayors are important strategic partners for government.
• Review the electoral system for mayoral elections – with a view to the replacement of first-past-the-post with the supplementary or alternative vote system.