Local government minister on Hampshire mayor, devolution benefits and postponing elections

The News, Portsmouth

Jim McMahon Jim McMahon Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution Jim McMahon speaking during a visit to Southampton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Picture: LDRS  Jim McMahon Jim McMahon Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution Jim McMahon speaking during a visit to Southampton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Picture: LDRS  Jim McMahon on devolution Jim McMahon on devolution Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution Jim McMahon discusses some of the key talking points of proposals for the Hampshire and Solent region  The government “embraces” elected mayors having a big set of responsibilities, a minister has said.  Concerns have been raised that the proposed structure for devolution in Hampshire and the Solent will give too much control to a single person.  As part of the government’s devolution priority programme, a new mayoral combined county authority (MCCA) for the region is set to be created, with the first election taking place in May 2026.  The mayor is likely to have responsibility for areas such as skills, transport and strategic planning.  Funding arrangements are yet to be set out but powers will be transferred down from Westminster.  Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution Jim McMahon visited Southampton this week to promote the ongoing public consultation on the plans, which closes on April 13.

Transcript

00:00Well, first of all, it's testament to the leadership being shown by council leaders

00:04in Hampshire and the Solon that they're on the priority programme to begin with.

00:07It was massively oversubscribed and so we had to make a choice about those that would

00:11go forward.

00:12And for the six areas that have gone forward for the Devolution Priority Programme, one

00:15it speaks to the level of ambition, the partnership arrangements that have been developed.

00:19And also, I think really, that for so long, because so much power has been kind of held

00:25in the centre, whether that's about Westminster and the politics or Whitehall and the civil

00:29service, local areas are always left to be bidden into the central pot.

00:34And what Devolution offers is for local leaders to be able to drive the destiny of their places

00:39as local communities who have the skin in the game to be able to craft that together.

00:43And that's what Devolution means.

00:44We've heard from some councils who have obviously been drafting their responses to the consultation

00:48that there's possible concerns around governance and one electing mayor having a lot of power

00:53and a lot of budget and responsibility.

00:55What's your response to those concerns as the Minister?

00:57Well, first of all, we embrace strong mayors.

01:01You know, we've had, I think, quite an underdeveloped mayoral model in England.

01:05It's been a bit sporadic.

01:06The powers that mayors have in different places are quite different.

01:09The role that even of council leaders around the table in different places can feel and

01:12look a bit different.

01:13And what we want to do is to see complete coverage, universal coverage of mayoral combined

01:18authorities that will be strategic authorities across the whole of England.

01:22And our commitment in return is that it's not just about widening devolution, it's about

01:25deepening devolution.

01:26On the things that matter to people, transport, housing, skills, the decent jobs that provide

01:32a good standard of living for working people, and what devolution ultimately can bring when

01:35you tie all those different pieces together.

01:37And when you build it around places and communities, that's when you get the added value from it.

01:42And we've seen this week local election campaigns in other parts of the country being launched.

01:46Obviously, the decision was a request made and approved by the government to suspend

01:50elections in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight this May.

01:53Can you just talk about why that was made, because there's probably going to be a lot

01:55of talk about that in the coming weeks or so.

01:57Well, we are working to a very tight timetable deliberately.

02:01We don't want to spend the next five, 10 years talking about the shape, size and function

02:05of councils, or whether or not we should or shouldn't have a mayor.

02:09We think that the model has been tried and tested, we think that mayors had a huge value.

02:14But we also have a big responsibility to local people to create councils that are sustainable.

02:19And the last 14 years have been very, very difficult for local government.

02:22Now this year, we've come in with £5 billion of new investment into local government for

02:27the first time ever.

02:28This is a £600 million recovery grant going towards areas of high deprivation and high

02:32need for services.

02:33But we have to plan for the future now.

02:35And this is about building sustainable councils that can survive the next 10, 15 or 50 years,

02:41you know, since the last reorganisation, and we're determined to do that.

02:44And government will play its bit in making sure that there is fair funding in the system.

02:49Why does that matter to local people?

02:50They must have seen, because everywhere in England has seen, that because councils have

02:54had to face the future by themselves, where central government has been missing in action,

03:00demand for adult social care, for children's services and temporary accommodation, that

03:04many councils have dominated their spending.

03:06The consequence in many places is that neighbourhood services that really make quality of life

03:10and people's pride of place matter, have been compromised for that.

03:13And we want to see those neighbourhood services rebuilt so people can have pride of place

03:18and confidence in the place where they live.

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