West Yorkshire mayor could keep portion of income tax to spend in region, under new plans
Mayors could get new powers to retain portion of income tax to spend in regions
Tracy Brabin would get new powers to retain a portion of income tax to spend on projects in the region like West Yorkshire mass transit.
Andy Burnham is set to announce the measures later this week, according to The Times, alongside handing mayors significant new spending powers to boost investment and infrastructure.
It is all part of his major focus on devolution and believes that handing down powers to local and regional governments will help restore faith in politics and drive economic growth.
He is expected to mirror the plans unveiled by former chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Mais lecture earlier this year.
The Leeds West and Pudsey MP announced that mayors would be able to collect taxes and spend them on their own regions, but, besides the overnight visitor levy, not set them themselves.
This was designed to end the so-called “begging bowl” culture, where mayors have to go to individual departments to ask for money for individual projects.
She told the BBC: “I often hear that the frustration is we could get 10,000 homes built, but we don’t get the transport.
“The tram for instance in Leeds for example, the mayor Tracy Brabin wants to drive these changes and her frustration is that she had to go to different parts of Government and say can you do this in the time I needed, because then I can drive the economy.
“So breaking down those barriers and giving powers in areas where they need it, we’ll be able to collectively drive economic growth.”
The £2.5bn West Yorkshire mass transit project would connect Leeds and Bradford as well as Elland Road and the White Rose Centre.
The project has hit a few bumps, with the proposed completion date being pushed back to the late 2030s after Whitehall told the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to change its process.
The Department for Transport is also insisting that Ms Brabin puts together a business case for a bus network as well as trams, before it approves the most cost effective proposal.
Sir Keir Starmer’s administration made it easier for mayors to approve mass transit projects, however Mr Burnham is expected to go further.
A government source told The Times: “For too long, governments have acted as if the answer to every problem sits somewhere in a Whitehall filing cabinet.
“Power should sit as close as possible to the people it affects, because the people best placed to solve a problem are usually the people living with it every single day.”
Angela Rayner explained: “In Greater Manchester, Andy saw that where he got powers and real devolution he was able to drive that economic change that we needed.
“That’s around transport, it’s around housing, it’s around education, it’s around employment.