Andy Burnham must take radical steps forward in relocating power from the centre of government to make progress with reducing regional inequalities, according to a group of academics including Ed Balls.
A new report from King’s College London and Harvard University says PM-in-waiting Burnham needs to be “far more forceful” in his commitment to addressing regional growth when he succeeds Keir Starmer later this month.
The report calls for Whitehall departments to be required to review all activities “to consider what could be delivered locally” as part of rebalancing efforts.
According to the report, ministries should have to “justify” any remaining central activity, by demonstrating the value it adds to local growth.
The report also calls for the creation of a “regional growth delivery unit” to be chaired by the prime minister and tasked with “taking on departments that have proven themselves most recalcitrant to reform”. The report authors say the unit should be jointly staffed by the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
Looking back on Starmer’s two years as PM, the report acknowledges that government policy has “edged towards addressing the UK’s regional productivity gap”. But it says work to date “falls well short of the scale, balance and ambition required to close it or to reverse long-standing spatial inequalities”.
The report concludes that the trajectory set by Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves means the government is currently “at risk of squandering the best opportunity in a generation to address the UK’s persistent regional inequalities”.
In his 29 June speech at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, Burnham pledged that “the days of Whitehall fighting the devolution of power into the regions and nations are over, for good”. He added: “The whole of Whitehall will now be required to get behind our places and work together with them to make quicker, more joined-up decisions.”
The King’s College and Harvard report’s five authors – broadcaster and former New Labour minister Balls, Dan Turner, Nyasha Weinberg, Anna Stansbury and Esme Elsden – say Burnham and his new chancellor must seize the devolution agenda in a way that Starmer and Reeves have failed to.
“A true devolution believer in No.10 must be matched by support elsewhere in Whitehall – and especially from the chancellor,” they said. They urged Burnham to rapidly produce a plan for the policies, resources and “institutional plumbing” required to show that devolution can improve growth and public service outcomes.
In addition to the new local growth delivery unit and departmental reviews of activities that can be decentralised, the report says HM Treasury should deliver a “region-by-region" settlement in the 2027 Spending Review, with “ambitious and transparent” goals for growth spending.
The report says this should set regional investment targets that aim to rebalance regional spending on “economic affairs” and go further on Green Book and funding formulae reform, looking at the case for “regional ringfences” with per-head funding.
Additionally, the report sets out a series of measures for giving regional mayors “greater economic firepower”. Those recommendations include expanding “capability support” provided by Whitehall departments to elected mayors.
The report says staff-to-budget ratios in strategic authorities should “look similar to those seen in Whitehall”, with staff moved from central government departments to strategic authorities to “make the difference quickly”.
It adds: “Talent programmes and senior leadership support for mayoral strategic authorities should be expanded, including integration with civil service talent programmes and an expectation of holding a ‘regional role’ as a condition for promotion in the senior civil service.”
In his People’s History Museum speech, Burnham stated a desire to compel central government departments to provide staff and other resources for local authorities he said had been left comparatively “threadbare” in recent years. The work will be spearheaded by Burnham’s proposed No.10 North.
The report authors said the nation “may be on the cusp of strong, sustained No.10 direction on devolution, with enthusiastic support for this agenda from both No.10 and the Treasury, “for the first time in our recent history”.
“This is a welcome shift, and tribute to the efforts of many to demonstrate the value of effective local leadership over decades – including notable past ministers, chancellors and the outgoing mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham,” they said.
“But this change means that the champions of devolution will have nowhere to hide if gaps open up between rhetoric and reality.”
The full report can be read here.