English Devolution and Local Government

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Written Statements

[The Minister for Local Government and English Devolution (Jim McMahon)]

Today, I am pleased to announce the list of places that have come forward to join the Government’s devolution priority programme, with a view to mayoral elections in May 2026. I will also provide an update on local government reorganisation and local elections.

Devolution priority programme

In December 2024, the Government published the “English Devolution White Paper”, setting out our approach to widening devolution across England, ensuring the benefits of taking back control can be felt by all. It signalled our commitment to change, a change that will bring growth and opportunity to all parts of the country, by putting power into the hands of local people that know their areas best.

To achieve this, I asked places to come forward to express their interest in being part of our devolution priority programme.

The Government received an extremely positive set of responses, and today I can confirm that we will be taking forward six devolution areas on the devolution priority programme: Cumbria (Cumberland council, Westmorland and Furness council); Cheshire and Warrington (Cheshire East council, Cheshire West and Chester council, Warrington borough council); Greater Essex (Essex county council, Thurrock council, Southend-on-Sea city council); Hampshire and Solent (Hampshire county council, Portsmouth city council, Isle of Wight council, Southampton city council); Norfolk and Suffolk (Norfolk county council, Suffolk county council); and Sussex and Brighton (East Sussex county council, West Sussex county council, Brighton and Hove city council).

The first of its kind, this programme aims to deliver a new wave of mayoral elections in May 2026. It will provide a fast-track to mayoral devolution for areas ready to come together under sensible geographies which meet the criteria set out in the White Paper.

Local people will have a real voice in deciding what is right for their areas, and more control over the things that really matter in their daily lives. New mayors will have access to new powers in the devolution framework and, ultimately, proudly represent their area at the Council of the Nations and Regions.

The six devolution areas on the priority programme will receive the full backing of Government to deliver to these ambitious timescales.

The Government will also continue to work closely with Lancashire, who are already committed to reviewing their devolution arrangements by the autumn, including steps to deepen their existing arrangement. This review will consider all options available for the area, including aligning with the devolution priority programme timeline for mayoral devolution.

I was pleased by the response to my letter of 16 December, showing that the country is ready for change. While selecting those areas best placed to join the devolution priority programme required judgments against the criteria set out in the White Paper, the Government want to maintain the enthusiasm and local consensus for devolution in those areas not being taken forward for mayoral devolution to the fastest timeline. The Government will continue to work closely with those areas to develop their proposals further and continue to widen devolution across England in this Parliament.

The Government see devolution as a new way of governing, rooted in the principle that people who have a stake in a place should be the ones shaping it. It will be crucial to delivering our commitment to bring growth and opportunity to communities across the country. This is the first step in delivering on our promise to move power out of Westminster and putting power where it belongs—into the hands of local people.

Every place has something to benefit from devolution, whether it is more regular bus services, more affordable housing, or the simple fact that local people will have a local champion with regional influence. Mayors, regardless of political stripe, have a proven track record of delivering growth.

But the Government are clear that, where a mayor is not using their powers for the benefit of their residents, the Government have the tools to ensure they deliver. Our White Paper set out our intention to explore a local public accounts committee model to interrogate the decision-making of mayoral strategic authorities; and the English devolution Bill will include measures to reform local audit. Taken together, these measures, and the Government’s wider reforms to accountability and scrutiny, will ensure mayors deliver the houses, transport and infrastructure their residents need.

Delivering devolution commitments

Today, legislation comes into force formally establishing three new combined county authorities and one new combined authority.

Greater Lincolnshire combined county authority and Hull and East Yorkshire combined authority will take their first steps as new strategic authorities tomorrow. Both will elect a mayor for their areas in May this year.

I am proud to say that this Government have delivered mayoral devolution to the whole of Yorkshire for the first time.

Combined authorities for Lancashire and for Devon and Torbay will also be coming into existence, helping local leaders in those areas work better together, delivering better services and growing the local economy.

Together with the areas the Government are taking forward on the devolution priority programme, this would bring the total population who will see the benefit from devolution to over 44 million—close to 80% of the country—demonstrating more progress in a shorter amount of time than any Government in Britain’s history.

Local government reorganisation

Devolution must be built upon strong foundations. That is why this Government are delivering on their manifesto pledge to fix the foundations of local government. The Government’s long-term vision is for residents to access good public services without the eye-watering price tag. That means creating simpler structures to unlock crucial efficiency savings as well as making it much clearer for residents who they should look to on local issues, with fewer but more empowered politicians, and more resources directed to the frontline.

Today, I am also writing to all councils in two-tier areas and small neighbouring unitary authorities to formally invite proposals for reorganisation. I am inviting areas to submit initial plans in the spring, followed by full proposals later in the year, and the Government will then follow the established assessment and decision-making process. We are committed to working with areas to make significant progress on these important changes.

Proposals should seek to achieve, for the whole of the area concerned, unitary authorities which:

Are the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. As a guiding principle, new councils should aim for a population of 500,000 or more. There may be certain scenarios in which this 500,000 figure does not make sense for an area, including on devolution, and this rationale should be set out in a proposal;

Prioritise the delivery of high quality and sustainable public services to citizens. Proposals should show how new structures will improve local government and service delivery and should avoid unnecessary fragmentation of services. Opportunities to deliver public service reform should be identified, including where they will lead to better value for money. Consideration should be given to the impacts for crucial services such as social care, children’s services, SEND and homelessness, and for wider public services including for public safety;

Demonstrate how local councils have sought to work together in coming to a view that best meets local needs and is informed by local views;

Support devolution arrangements; and

Enable stronger community engagement and deliver genuine opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment.

The White Paper is clear that Government will also facilitate reorganisation for those unitary councils where there is evidence of failure or where their size or boundaries are impacting on their responsibilities. While some of these councils will be included in the invitations for reorganisation in two-tier areas, there is a different legal process for mergers of unitaries. The Government are open to discussions with all areas where structural change will help them get on to a more sustainable footing.

Delays to local elections

The timing of elections can affect planning for devolution, particularly when done alongside reorganisation. That is why the Government wrote to local authorities in December setting out that, where it will help deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe, the Government would be prepared to postpone local elections from May 2025 to May 2026.

This follows long-standing precedent. Between 2019 and 2022, the then Government legislated to postpone 17 local council elections for one year during preparatory local government reorganisation work. Most recently, this included the postponement of elections to three county councils—Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and Somerset— from 2021 to 2022.

The rationale then, as now, is to enable open conversations about proposals and to avoid elections to a council which will cease to exist and where the future structure is unknown. Instead, existing sitting elected members will have their term of office extended for a short period to allow proposals to be developed for new unitary councils. Once these proposals are agreed upon, elections then take place at the earliest opportunity to the shadow authority.

In response to the Government’s letter of December 2024, 18 councils requested that the Government consider postponement of their local elections. Of these:

The Government agree that for eight council areas, postponement is essential for the delivery of the devolution priority programme and complementary reorganisation—Norfolk and Suffolk; Essex and Thurrock; Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; East Sussex and West Sussex. In these areas plans for new combined county authorities, inaugural mayoral elections, and local government reorganisation will all be concurrent and working to a very ambitious timetable.

The Government agree that for one council area—Surrey—reorganisation is essential to unlocking devolution options and a delay would help deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. The “English Devolution White Paper” discontinued the mayoral single local authority model of devolution. In that context, and given the specific financial challenges, Surrey’s path to devolution is significantly dependent on local government reorganisation.

The Government will not take forward a further nine requests made. While I am grateful to local government colleagues who have been rapidly thinking through proposals, it is right that elections are delayed only when necessary. These are not taken forward either because:

The area was not considered to currently meet the criteria for the devolution priority programme; or

the area is already part of a—mayoral—combined county authority, so an election delay was not considered essential to delivering both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe; or

some areas need to take forward further discussions to reach agreement on devolution plans and so the postponement of the election in these areas is not considered essential to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.

Thirty three council elections are scheduled for May 2025. Following these decisions, 24 will continue to take place in May 2025, with nine delayed to May 2026. In addition, in May 2025, six mayoral elections will be held—four for mayoral combined (county) authorities and two for individual local authorities.

For some areas, the timing of the May 2025 elections affects their planning for devolution, particularly alongside reorganisation, and they made requests that involve postponing local elections to May 2026. There is rightly a very high bar for election delays. I have been clear that elections can and should only be delayed to help areas to deliver reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. For places on the devolution priority programme, the parallel process of devolution and reorganisation requires an ambitious timetable, thereby reaching that very high bar.

Next steps

I will bring forward legislation to postpone these elections when parliamentary time allows.

The Government will launch consultations to start delivering the devolution priority programme, giving local communities the opportunity to share views on devolution in their area. Further information on this will be announced in due course.

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