Northerners will no longer be ‘dictated’ by Whitehall, Rayner says
Angela Rayner has committed to making “irreversible” changes to devolution laws in order to ensure that Northerners will no longer be “dictated to” by Whitehall.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who also has responsibility for housing, communities and local government, has pledged to deliver devolution across the whole of the North of England.
Speaking ahead of her speech opening the Labour Conference tomorrow, Ms Rayner said she intends to hand power back to areas such as Lancashire, Greater Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire through devolution deals.
It comes as a new report by the Institute for Government found that the geographical spread of devolution has been “uneven”, despite what it called “notable advances" in the last decade.
It said half the country currently has no devolution at all, but that it was possible for this to be changed entirely by the end of the current parliament, in 2029.
Ms Rayner said: “For 14 years, the over-centralised Westminster-knows-best attitude of the Tories left millions of people left behind, neglected, ignored and invisible. Britain’s economy has been held back and dragged down by their failed trickle-down experiment.
“This Labour Government will harness the potential in our economy, handing power back and putting communities in control, so innovation and growth can bloom in every part of the country.
“Our devolution revolution will shift power away from Westminster, reigniting the fires of our economy, unleashing investment and driving economic growth by trusting in our local leaders who know their areas best.
“I have seen how in my own patch, devolution has put rocket fuel under local pride. We have the power to do things in a Manchester way, but we want to support other communities to do things their own way.
“This is about restoring trust in politics and respecting people with skin in the game to make decisions for their own area.
“We will be the Government that completes devolution in the North. This shift will change the future of the North of England like nothing else.
“Northerners will no longer be dictated to from Whitehall. The change will be irreversible, there is no going back and I will get it done.”
In July’s King’s Speech, the Government committed to bringing forward an English Devolution Bill to deliver on its manifesto commitment on devolution.
It follows the Levelling Up agenda promoted by the Conservatives. It was a political policy first articulated in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that aimed to reduce the imbalances, primarily economic, between areas and social groups across the United Kingdom.
It sought to do so without acting to the detriment of prosperous areas, such as much of South East England.
A White Paper for the policy was published by Boris Johnson's government on February 2 2022, and was continued by Rishi Sunak's government.
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