Mayor sends letter to Government following publication of English Devolution White Paper
Today (December 17) the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has issued a statement and shared a letter sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:
“This is a proud moment for Greater Manchester. The adoption across England of the model of devolution which we have pioneered will change the way our country is run, tilting it away from Whitehall and Westminster and empowering the English regions. Through devolution, we have achieved a level of growth higher than the UK average and we believe this extension will help the Government achieve its growth mission.
“We are pleased the Government is giving Greater Manchester control over rail. It is clear that the railways aren't working, and we are ready to pioneer a new approach by bringing eight commuter lines into the Bee Network. We will complete Phase One in early January, with all our buses back under public control, and are ready to start on Phase Two straight away which will see bikes, buses, trams and trains united in a London-style system by early 2028 at the latest.
“One area where we would we like to see the Government go further is post-16 technical education. However, as the exchange of letters with the Government shows, we have the green light to prove the concept of the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate. We believe the MBacc will be a game-changer for technical education in our city-region, creating an equal alternative to the university route, and demonstrating that will be our defining mission in 2025."
Dear,
The Rt Hon Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Rt Hon Deputy Prime Minister
Thank you for your letter today and for the Government's ambition for Greater Manchester. Your recognition of Greater Manchester’s economic growth success in recent years, but also the need to remove the constraints on future growth, is welcome. If we can together maintain this focus on growing the second cities of the UK, and empower local leaders to do so, we can deliver on the Growth Mission and the milestones which the Prime Minister set out earlier this month.
This is a proud moment for Greater Manchester. The adoption across England of the model of devolution which we have pioneered will change the way our country is run, tilting it away from Whitehall and Westminster and empowering the English regions. I appreciate the acknowledgment of our pioneering efforts. The credit for this goes to those who came before us – particularly to Sir Richard Leese and Sir Howard Bernstein - whose visionary leadership has laid the foundation for our current achievements. Their work has enabled Greater Manchester to experience a higher level of growth than the UK average, a testament to the effectiveness of our devolved model.
Post-16 technical education is one area where devolution enables us to tackle the blockers on opportunity for our citizens and on economic growth for our region. Your commitment to work with us on the tools to deliver clear pathways of progression from education into local employment, including through the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (the MBACC), is therefore welcome. We believe the MBacc will be a game-changer for technical education in our city-region, creating an equal alternative to the university route, and demonstrating that will be our defining mission in 2025. As you note in your letter, however, there is much further to go, and we will seek further control of post-16 skills provision to enhance our capabilities in this area.
In the new year, we will bring forward a Prevention Demonstrator, a neighbourhood-based model that will see a radical shift in how we deliver public services; collaborate with communities in order to reduce health, social and economic inequalities; and support people to overcome their barriers to work and enable good growth. Our research suggests that helping people overcome the health and social barriers holding them back could contribute to getting 150,000 of our residents into employment in the next five years. Our new model will bring together a range of interventions spanning social, clinical, labour market and technological innovation – delivering short and long-term financial pay-offs. Greater Manchester could become a blueprint for prevention and public service delivery, enabling all areas with an integrated settlement to join up public services.
Growth comes at a cost and visitors to Greater Manchester over recent years can see that we are rapidly developing in order to support the growth of our city-region, with the Bee Network spreading an integrated public transport network across our boroughs and housing and employment developments to respond to the need. We are keen to explore ways to fund the impact of our growth, including major investments in infrastructure and public transport. We believe that additional local revenue-raising mechanisms could support these efforts. We are developing a ten-year pipeline of investment projects across Greater Manchester that we aim to unlock by utilizing all available investment opportunities and sharing the benefits of growth both nationally and locally. I look forward to sharing this pipeline and these proposals with you as you consider the long-term investment inherent to the national 10-year Infrastructure Strategy and the 2025 Spending Review.
We are ready to engage in the Task and Finish Group process you have established, leading into the 2025 Spending Review, and look forward to working with you to achieve our shared goals. The areas you mention – employment support, 16-19 skills, the alignment of housing and transport, and expanding devolution and partnership working into areas such as business support and regional innovation funding – are all areas where we think rapid progress can be made. Ahead of the 2025 Spending Review we are also working on specific proposals to further expand and integrate the Bee Network, expand opportunities for young people, and deliver prevention-focused public service reform (particularly through the wave 1 test & learn pilot you mention).
Congratulations once again on the milestone of publishing the English Devolution White Paper. The ambition to spread devolution across England is testament to the success of devolution in Greater Manchester. I look forward to the next stage, where we can work together to drive growth in Greater Manchester and advance the frontier of English devolution. I look forward to discussing our proposals further and working with you to make them a reality. Thank you for your support and collaboration.
Yours sincerely,
Andy Burnham
Mayor of Greater Manchester
Article Published: 17/12/2024 09:52 AM