'No mayor, no money' says county council leader

The leader of Leicestershire County Council has set out his position on Devolution funding as part of a BBC article. 

Councillor Dan Harrison told journalists: "I've been saying this for a long time - no mayor, no money.

"We are dramatically missing out on getting true value for people in Leicestershire, on things like big transport schemes, upgrades to the A42, or maybe getting the Ivanhoe Line open again."

Councillor Harrison, who is leader of the Reform UK group at County Hall also revealed that he had asked East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward if Leicestershire could be part of the East Midlands Combined County Authority.

He told the BBC: "I've asked the mayor recently and she said it wouldn't really work at the minute.

"I said 'that's sad' but I put a really good case and I want to be productive."

EMCCA was formed in 2022 but Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland did not join. 

The combined authority was recently announced as an Established Mayoral Strategic Authority offering it further powers to make decisions locally and deliver for people and businesses across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. 

Mayor Claire has firmly ruled out the possibility of Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland becoming part of EMCCA, either now or once Local Government Reorganisation is complete, on a number of occasions recently. 

The comments appeared in an article about Devolution Leicestershire campaign, which also featured quotes from the Prime Minister calling for Devolution in Leicestershire "as soon as possible".

Leicester City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, said to the BBC: "What the Government has made very clear - and what Andy Burnham particularly is committed to - is mayors across the economic geography of a combined authority,

"The expectation is that we'll have one such authority for Leicester and the new Leicestershire and Rutland authority and that they will elect a mayor with the same sort of powers they have in the Nottingham and Derby areas."

The Labour city mayor argued Leicester had been successful in competing for government funding despite not being part of a combined authority.

"If you just look at the way in which our bus fleet is being transformed, for example, it's something that many other authorities are very envious of," he said.

"That's because we have been able to attract investment into Leicester. We can speak up for ourselves."