Andy Burnham to set out devolution plan amid criticism it won’t benefit regions equally – UK politics live

Plan set to transform funding so English regions no longer rely on Whitehall handouts for projects

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. From 2028 English regional mayors, for the first time, will be handed a share of income tax receipts instead of central grants and be less beholden to the Treasury by being able to borrow to invest in big projects.

Mayors will also be able to keep a share of business rates totalling tens of millions of pounds by April 2027, and gain greater control over services such as housing and transport, under plans that form part of the government’s devolution agenda.

There is already a way that the business rates retention is distributed to correspond with central funding formula to correct for that.

Because you wouldn’t want to have it that places like London and Manchester and Bristol were able to retain more of theirs while other areas that weren’t growing at the same rate, were falling behind.

Yes, that’s right, and it will have more powers devolved, 16-19 funding, employment support budgets and the ability to tailor their own vocational routes. This will be an important part of developing their own local regional growth strategy as well.

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