Give mayors the policy and financial powers to deliver devolution – The Yorkshire Post says

His two terms in office, followed by the impact made by a certain Boris Johnson between 2008 and 2016, paved the way for this governance model to be applied to city-regions – and also more compact areas.

And the calibre of mayors across the North – and the Midlands – has seen the emergence of a new era of civic leaders who are also respected nationally.

Yet the ability of Dan Jarvis and Tracy Brabin in South and West Yorkshire respectively – or Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Andy Street in the West Midlands – to fulfil their mandates remains compromised by the chaotic and inconsistent approach pursued by successive governments.

Disappointingly, Mr Johnson is no exception to this despite his previous experience at City Hall on the banks of the Thames. He appears quite content for his Ministers like Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick, the Housing Secretary, to outsource responsibility to regional mayors while, at the same time, retaining the policy-making and financial powers in London.

And until this contradiction is reconciled, this newspaper, for one, will remain sympathetic towards those mayors, Tory and Labour alike, whose work is undermined by the London Government’s approach to devolution that is so ad hoc that it does not allow for strategic planning or the full potential of the regions to be realised.

With Mr Johnson’s recent policy speech only adding to the confusion, it’s even more important that the much-promised White Paper on levelling up not only defines this supposedly flagship policy, but the precise role and expectations of mayors. It is the very least that they, and the very people they have been elected to represent, deserve.

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