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Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday ask all English towns and cities not covered by devolution deals to form groups to stand for new powers of their choice, as he launches the party’s local election campaign.
Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner will say more areas can gain new powers and influence by forming so-called combined authorities which would take over some responsibilities currently exercised by Westminster.
They will also work to ensure greater control over policies affecting transport, skills, housing, planning, employment support and energy.
Starmer will describe Labour’s plans as “a comprehensive approach to devolution”, saying democratic decisions are best made by local people with “stake at stake”.
Starmer and Rayner will say that under a Labor government all combined authorities – whether old or new – will be required by law to develop “local growth plans” setting out how they intend to boost growth.
If Labor wins the next election, it will establish a “presumption of shifting power out of Westminster” and seek to move away from a model that promotes competition between councils, Rayner said.
He told the Financial Times that the precise powers given to the new combined authorities – which should be based on “reasonable economic geographies” – will be determined on an ad hoc basis based on what councils believe they need most.
“It’s a negotiation, that’s the point,” he said, adding that he didn’t want it to be “paternalistic.”
“What I hope is that we can embrace cooperation between those authorities, between those cities, so that we can really address some of the challenges that we face, such as skills, employment and transport, which are often about more than just one aspect .geographical area,” Rayner said.
Labor is more than 20 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls and is expected to make big gains in local elections on May 2.
The party hopes to unseat Conservative Mayor Andy Street in the West Midlands and make inroads in the Tees Valley against Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen.
On Thursday Starmer will accuse the Government of failing to deliver on its flagship promise at the 2019 general election to “level up” England’s regions, made by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Labor leader will argue that the gap between London’s per capita gross domestic product and that of every other English region has widened since the Tories came to power in 2010.
“To level up. . . it is a good ambition for Britain. But this requires not only a new plan, but also a fundamental change in the way we govern,” Starmer will say.
Michael Gove, the Leveller Secretary, said Labour’s last period in office, from 1997 to 2010, had minimal devolution beyond the M25.
“Since the publication of the Leveling White Paper two years ago, devolution has been extended to two-thirds of England and 90% of the north, with more to follow,” he added.
“Any fair observer would recognize the scale of the transformation we are making.”