The chancellor has said devolution to mayors means some transport projects could be completed much faster following changes introduced by the government.
Rachel Reeves was taking part in an conversation at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Conference today where she said she believes decisions “should be made by people living and working in an area”.
She told the audience: “We’re doing lots of stuff centrally to try and accelerate that growth, but it’s not going to work if we keep all the power in Westminster, and that’s why I’m really excited, right since I started as Chancellor, to be devolving power to the nations, the regions, and the localities.”
Ms Reeves said this is why “regional mayors are so important” in terms of delivering on the government’s agenda.
She announced that she had laid the order giving mayors more powers over things like trams.
Ms Reeves said this would “speed up projects by months if not years”.
She said the government is “trusting mayors to get on and deliver”.
Northern growth envoy Tom Riordan joined Ms Reeves on stage and said this is the sort of thing “that does deliver” and can make a “big difference”.
Ms Reeves also pointed to six city investment funds which were announced at the Mais lecture in March.
For these projects, she said the Treasury had been working with mayors to “deliver on the priorities” in the region.
Greater Manchester CA mayor Andy Burnham (Lab) is contesting a seat to return to the Commons and is then widely expected to challenge the prime minister for leadership of the Labour party.
When the panel chair Alex Depledge, who is a Treasury adviser, asked the audience if they were optimistic about their personal future, Ms Reeves said: “I had better put my hand up.” And laughed.
She concluded: “I am determined to ensure that in my time as chancellor, opportunities for people wherever they live are greater than they were.”
She said the government was “on that journey” and “starting to turn things around”.
Ms Reeves said mayors were “amazing” and left without taking audience questions.
