Transport and skills top of Greater Manchester devolution list

Transport and skills based education are top of the Greater Manchester devolution wish-list, the mayor has said. 

In his first major Westminster speech since taking on the city region’s top job, Andy Burnham last week called for further transfers of power to the north and warned how a no-deal Brexit would be ‘a disaster’ for GM.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) following the speech on Wednesday, Mr Burnham said GM stands ready to adopt more powers and the accountability that comes with them. 
Improving transport is a priority, the former MP explained, as residents ‘can all feel it creaking at the seams.’

He said: “Transport would be number one, if I lose sleep about anything to do with the job at the moment, there’s a few things, but transport is right up there.

“It could hold the city region back. And it is partly about money, to build new rail capacity and extend Metrolink, it is partly about that. 

“But actually, there’s simple things we could have that would help if we add more power, more ability to run the system. 

“A direct example is Highways England (HE); we’ve got roadworks going on at the moment on the M62, and in (central) Manchester, at the moment we can’t coordinate those two things because HE do their own thing, they’re not accountable to us.

“It’s a classic example of how you can’t coordinate. 

“More power over all elements of transport so we can integrate it, work as one system, that would be number one (in the pecking order).”

More responsibility for providing skills-based education tailored to local need would also be near the top of the list, the mayor said, with the pledge that Greater Manchester ‘will do it better’ than Westminster.

“Businesses, universities, everybody says let us do it. Kids are leaving schools in GM without hope for the future. 

“We will do it better. I’m on with my plan for a free bus pass for all 16 to 18 year olds. We’re going to consultation soon on our UCAS style application scheme for apprenticeships. We’re trying to do things even without the powers, but give us the powers, we’ll do a better job.”

More responsibility for housing ‘to provide more freedom to borrow to build’ and further devolution of powers for Department for Work and Pensions responsibilities ‘so we can create personalised spending’ and ‘get away from tick-box sanctions’, are also on the devolution wish-list the mayor said. 

The keynote speech, delivered to business leaders and politicians at Westminster’s Central Methodist Hall, also outlined the impact a no-deal Brexit would have on Greater Manchester, something Mr Burnham referred to as ‘disaster’.

He said devolution offers a ‘shaft of light’ in an otherwise gloomy political scene and GM needs a ‘common-sense Brexit’ that provides continuity. 

He was moved to make his call for cross-party campaigns – for further devolution and also to prevent the no-deal scenario – in the summer, when the north was in the middle of rail timetable chaos and the vast blazes on Winter Hill and Saddleworth Moor.

The response from central government gave the sense ‘the country wasn’t functioning anymore’ and ‘normal processes had broken down’ the mayor said. 

In post-Brexit Britain, ‘devolution to the English region will build a much healthier politics’, he added in his speech.

Speaking to the LDRS, Mr Burnham added: “I always say look at my Twitter timeline in the morning. 

“The GM public have got a focal point, they don’t differentiate where I’ve got powers or not, why would they? It’s quite right (they question me), they’re going about their everyday lives.

“I don’t fear the accountability, in some ways I’m getting the accountability without the powers at the moment. It is a bit frustrating, I keep saying I can’t force the government to react. 

“I just don’t want what happened this summer to happen again, I’d much rather have the power and the responsibility that comes with it than what it is at the moment, without the power to sort it.”