Re:Think 2 October, 2024

Conservative party conference: rebuilding from the regions

Back in the heart of one of the most established combined authorities in England, we couldn’t let Conservative Party conference pass without a panel on devolution.

‘Rebuilding from the regions’ featured a stellar line up of former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, new MP and former PM Chief of Staff Nick Timothy, and Public First founder and 2019 Conservative Manifesto co-author Rachel Wolf.

It was a fascinating discussion – here are three take aways…

1. Metro mayors are one of the success stories of the last Government. Andy Street talked about the billions in investment he had brought into the region as Mayor, crucially using public money to crowd in private money. The combined authority model, headed by a metro mayor, means, for the first time, regions have coherent place-based plans – backed by “power and cash”. The ‘single pot’ commitment made by the last Government is another step towards empowering these local decision-makers (though this will only work if mayors can *genuinely* allocate monies as they see fit, without Whitehall interference). Nick Timothy reflected on the difference between the region he grew up in and the region today, including the vastly better infrastructure delivered under Andy Street. Rachel Wolf noted that mayors had actually made things better in their areas. While central government has become more sclerotic and bureaucratic, metro mayors are building.
2. The ability to retain the upside of growth locally is essential. Overcoming resistance to housing and other infrastructure requires than residents benefit from building in their local area. The West Midlands met their housing targets, focusing on increasing density in urban areas and putting in the infrastructure to support it, while protecting green belt land.
3. Fiscal devolution is the next devo milestone. This would enable mayors to go further, and boost accountability. Greater revenue raising – or tax cutting powers – could boost competitiveness and enable regions to specialise in particular sectors. But even just allowing areas to retain the tax take of their areas would be a big step in the right direction.