Bill to devolve powers to city regions laid before UK parliament

"To bring different parts of our country together, my government will work to bring about a balanced economic recovery," the Queen said at the state opening of parliament on 27 May. "Legislation will be introduced to provide for the devolution of powers to cities with elected metro mayors, helping to build a 'northern powerhouse'."

The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords the following day. In its current form, the Bill (29-page / 160 KB PDF) would enable the communities secretary to make an order providing for a there to be an elected mayor for the area of a combined authority in England or Wales. Such an order could be made on the application or consent of all the constituent local authorities within a combined authority's area.

The Bill would also allow for such an order to be made where all but one local authority in a combined authority gave their consent. In these circumstances, the communities secretary would be required to make a second order removing the dissenting council from the combined authority.

Under the provisions of the Bill, functions of local authorities would be able to be transferred to the relevant combined authority and functions of a mayoral combined authority would be able to be transferred to transferred to its mayor, by order from the communities secretary. 

A government briefing note (103-page / 1.0 MB PDF) accompanying the Queen's speech said the Bill was intended to boost growth and to increase productivity and efficiency in local government. Another proposed benefit of the Bill was to provide the framework for Greater Manchester to proceed with the Greater Manchester Agreement agreed between the UK Treasury and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in November. The note said the framework would also enable "other future deals" to be delivered "both in large cities which choose to have elected mayors and in other places".

The announcement follows a speech last month by chancellor George Osborne in which he said that government would legislate to "pave the way for … cities ... to take a greater control and responsibility over all the key things that make a city work, from transport and housing to skills, and key public services like health and social care".

Planning expert Elizabeth Wiseman of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The message of devolution in the Queen's speech was crystal clear with four out of the 25 Bills announced seeking to start the biggest transfer of power from Westminster and Whitehall in history."

"Greater Manchester is at the forefront of establishing what has become known as the 'northern powerhouse'," said Wiseman. "The mayor to be elected in 2017 will have the freedom to make strategic planning decisions and set spending priorities based on the region's needs and with these powers the opportunity to unleash the economic potential of the north."