The rising profile of devolution in England was captured this week as the national media rushed to cover Andy Street and Andy Burnham launching their attempt at creating an alternative to HS2’s now defunct northern leg. Nothing illustrates better the powers, profile, and limitations of devolved institutions than this effort by the mayors of the two largest combined authorities to save this blighted project.

It is likely that in the future we will see increased attempts by regional mayors to carve out distinct policy platforms and to campaign actively for their regions interests regardless of political parties.

If you have an interest in development, planning or transport then you need to be aware of the role elected mayors play in the Midlands.

Over the last decade the government has in piecemeal fashion increased both the numbers and powers of devolved bodies in England. Whilst Labour remains coy about its plans it is unlikely to unwind this progress towards devolution, should it form the next UK government. There is an acceptance amongst economists, academics, business, and government that the UK’s productivity gap is in large part due to the weakness of its big city economies. When Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool can perform as well as Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Cologne then the English economy can truly motor along. Key to these cities' growth, they argue, is devolved governance.

Powers over transport, housing and increasingly skills are being transferred from Westminster to institutions based in the regions of England. They will form an important part of the political and policy environment as we head towards the middle of the 2ast century. Whether real fiscal devolution (i.e. substantial tax raising powers) happens, which would be a real game changer for the once monolithically centralised England is a debate for another day. But regardless regional mayors and other devolved bodies will be a feature of politics for the foreseeable future.

Here in the Midlands, we have two fascinating battles coming up in May with Andy Street facing Labour’s Richard Parker, whose business background threatens Mr Street’s traditional base and in the East Midlands former MP and NHS leader Claire Ward will be up against multi-hatted incumbent Ben Bradley, who fancies adding mayor to being leader of Nottinghamshire council and an MP.

Understandably, the chaotic disparate arrangements for devolution in the England can cause confusion to even the most seasoned observer, but handily Cavendish have produced a simple free to download guide to devolution. Get your copy here: https://cavendishconsulting.com/understanding-combined-authorities-and-regional-devolution/

For more information or support please feel free to reach out to our team of Midlands public affairs specialists based in Birmingham and Nottingham via https://cavendishconsulting.com/the-midlands/