Healey’s first budget to include big devolution package to boost growth
Source: The Guardian ·
Chancellor will build on Burnham’s promise that local leaders in England will no longer have to ‘come cap in hand to Westminster’Andy Burnham has promised that local leaders in England will no longer have to come “cap in hand to Westminster” ahead of a fresh drive to devolve spending power in next week’s budget.In his statement on Wednesday, the chancellor, John Healey, will include plans for a…
From the source
Andy Burnham has promised that local leaders in England will no longer have to come “cap in hand to Westminster” ahead of a fresh drive to devolve spending power in next week’s budget. In his statement on Wednesday, the chancellor, John Healey, will include plans for a new £1.5bn borrowing facility, to be drawn up in collaboration with mayors over the next two years. Regional mayors have long complained that they are constrained by their limited borrowing power – in contrast to local authorities in the US and some European countries, which commonly issue their own bonds. The borrowing plan will form part of a big devolution package aimed at boosting regional economic growth. This will also include the allocation of an initial £285m “good growth” funding next year, to be spent on local leaders’ priorities – which could include housing, transport links or high street regeneration. Amid fears in the Treasury about whether some local authorities have the capacity to administer…