Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has welcomed Labour leader Keir Starmer's plan to push more power out of Westminster and towards towns and cities around the country.
On Monday, Starmer pledged to spread power away from the political centre of Westminster if his party wins the next General Election, saying he would give local regions a bigger say over things like transport, housing and jobs.
The Labour leader made a major presentation yesterday alongside former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has led on the party's Commission for the Future of the UK, which also outlined how a Labour government would replace the unelected House of Lords with a new smaller, elected second chamber.
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Among the report's 40 recommendations is a call to give local communities new powers over skills, transport, planning and culture to drive growth. Combined with local growth plans, the report argues this will enable the emergence of hundreds of 'clusters' of economic activity in cities and towns across the UK.
New powers over transport and infrastructure and development and planning - including compulsory purchase orders on vacant sites - would be handed to the devolved administrations, the mayors and local authorities.
On the idea of increased devolution, Starmer said: "People up and down this country are crying out for a new approach. If Labour wins the next election Britain will see a change not just in who governs but in how we are governed. The tools to a fairer society and a stronger economy placed directly in the hands of the working people."
“The centre hasn’t delivered. We have an unbalanced economy which makes too little use of the talents of too few people in too few places. We will have higher standards in public life, a wider spread of power and opportunity, and better economic growth that benefits everyone, wherever they are. By setting our sights higher, wider, better, we can build a better future together.”
Metro Mayor Rotheram has championed devolution since his election in 2017. He strongly welcomed the plans.
He said: "Keir Starmer’s Labour government will hand powers to towns, cities, regions and nations that will help to reignite our economy. And at the same time, Labour will scrap unaccountable ones in Westminster to restore trust in politics.
"This is a matter of personal conviction for Keir. I know he sees the role of local leaders as central to driving growth across the country. He knows it’s local leaders who get what their region needs, not the Whitehall machine.
"And across the UK, the metro mayor system is bearing fruit. In the Liverpool City Region, we've used the powers devolution gives us to create 10,000 jobs and 7,000 apprenticeships, progress work on Mersey Tidal Power, help thousands of local people through pioneering projects like Households into Work, Housing First and my Young Person's Guarantee. Best of all, we're using our powers to put the public back into public transport by taking back control of our buses, investing in green transport and £500m in futuristic, publicly owned trains."
He added: "So as the government dithers, delays, and sits on its hands, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will tackle the challenges the Liverpool City Region and the wider country faces head on - the cost-of-living crisis, restoring stability and growth to our economy, and restoring trust in our politics.
"It starts by pushing power out and making our politicians accountable to the public again. This is the start of a journey that will see power pushed out of Westminster and standards driven up. The start of showing how politics can once again be a force for good. The start of the Liverpool City Region and the whole UK, becoming fairer, greener, stronger more dynamic. But more than that – it will be a chance to end that status quo that is holding back so many people across the country."
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