Comment: What Andy Burnham and others said about Devo during Conference

With the former Mayor of Greater Manchester taking to the conference stage as Prime Minister, it was no surprise to find devolution a leading topic of conversation at this week’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

The very first speech of the week told a powerful story about how Devolution has helped drive growth and investment into the Liverpool City Region. City Region Mayor Steve Rotherham was clear in his speech that the devolved powers he holds as mayor have been transformative.

The role of mayors and the opportunities of Devolution were leading topics on the conference fringe. I have been attending Labour Party Conferences for over 20 years. Seeing long queues for events with senior cabinet ministers is not uncommon, but this year Labour’s team of metro mayors were drawing big crowds too. There is a growing interest in how regional mayors are shaping their roles, using their powers to drive growth and deliver for their areas.

Devolution was a theme running through a succession of keynote speeches from senior ministers. Chancellor John Healey announced it would be Mayors who would be tasked with delivering a new £100m Local Apprenticeships Service to support young people into work and training, saying:

"Led by mayors, because it’s the mayor that knows their areas best. They know which firms are hiring, they know which colleges are delivering, and they know which estates have been left behind. That’s what Devolution means."

Many areas without mayors have effective programmes in place to address youth unemployment. However, it is significant that it is regional mayors the Chancellor is giving responsibility to for this new programme and its funding.

Moving powers out of Whitehall and to local leaders was a theme picked up by Communities and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner in her address to the conference as she said: "By shifting power out of Whitehall and giving communities with skin in the game the tools to shape their own future."

And to the big speech of the week. It was unsurprising that Devolution and empowering local areas was a leading theme in the Prime Minister’s address. It is widely understood just how determined Andy Burnham is to re-wire how the country works, with devolving more powers out of Whitehall to regional and local leaders driving this agenda.

One important takeaway from Andy Burnham’s keynote speech is that devolution is not a technocratic endeavour, a change in governance structures for the sake of it. It is fundamental to his vision and approach, drawing on his experience as Greater Manchester Mayor to craft a new national story: "…you devolve more powers to places to put them in charge and decide their own destiny. And then in doing those things we optimise the conditions for businesses to grow."

To further underline his ambition for Devolution, the Prime Minister announced that regional mayors will see their role expanding into new areas like energy and holding new powers to hold water companies to account.

Coming away from Labour’s conference this week, it is clear Devolution and empowering local leaders is hardwired into the thinking across government about how Andy Burnham will deliver his vision and ambition for the country. For those areas - like Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland -without mayoral Devolution the exciting challenge now is to meet this ambition with a devolution proposition that will work for this area, bringing new powers and resources to our communities to drive growth and unlock new opportunities.