Cheshire and Cumbria get devolution nod
The areas were among six selected by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to be part of Labour’s fast-track devolution programme.
Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington will both get combined authorities presided over by mayors by 2026 as part of the Devolution Priority Programme.
Both areas were among those to put themselves forward for devolution deals following the publication of Labour’s Devolution white paper, which set out a vision for a more decentralised nation.
A new strategic authority would not take responsibility for the two unitary authorities in Cumbria’s case and three in Cheshire and Warrington, rather it would have additional strategic responsibilities, like the combined authorities in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region.
The ultimate prize on offer for Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington is the kind of autonomy currently being enjoyed by Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, the most devolved areas of England, which have received trailblazer deals that come with integrated settlements.
The other four areas selected as part of the fast-track programme alongside Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington were Norfolk and Suffolk, Greater Essex, Sussex and Brighton, and Hampshire and Solent.
Proposals for combined authorities for Kent and Medway, Wiltshire and Swindon, the South Midlands, and Wessex all missed the cut.
“The truth is that for all the promises of levelling up, central government’s first instinct is all too often to hoard power and hold our economy back,” Rayner said in the House of Commons.
“Too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few.
“We promised to achieve a devolution revolution by overseeing the greatest transfer of power from Westminster in a generation, and today’s announcement will help raise living standards, improve public services and build the homes we so desperately need.”
Rayner also declared Lancashire’s mayorless combined authority open for business.
