England’s metro mayors must be given far more power, according to Michael Heseltine, more than 30 years after he first called for English devolution.
Heseltine, a former Conservative deputy prime minister, has called on the government to put regional leaders in charge of school performance and housing, and to give them the ability to levy taxes, in a review commissioned to assess their role.
Heseltine, who served as a minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, listed 20 proposals which would give the elected mayors the ability to transform their regions and narrow the gap with London.
Lord Heseltine drew up proposals in 2012 in his report called No Stone Unturned, which set out to create combined authorities and metro mayors.
But in a new report launched in Birmingham he warned that progress had stalled, partly because the government had been “paralysed by indecision” as the “shadow of Brexit hangs like the darkest storm cloud over our body politic”.
The report, Empowering English Cities, commissioned by West Midlands Combined Authority, is expected to guide the next prime minister in reducing the economic gap between London and the regions.
It suggests that mayors should be given responsibility for overseeing failing schools and affordable housing, and should also be able to control locally raised taxes.
Heseltine said many of the current mayors were working “with one arm tied behind their backs” due to the imbalance of power.
For the report Heseltine interviewed the mayors of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, Liverpool city region, Tees Valley, West of England and the West Midlands, all elected in 2017.
“London is too powerful and takes too many of the everyday decisions,” he writes.
“If you live 200 miles away from the people who decide your future, you become frustrated, lack hope and ultimately become apathetic.
“Too few of the men and women who devise the policies that shape your early years, your adolescence, your education, your life chances, your whole life, have never experienced your life.”
The West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, urged Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson to listen to the findings.
He said: “With the inertia created by Brexit, key policy decisions such as the future direction of devolution are at risk of falling by the wayside and I hope this document, and its bold vision, encourages not only similar ambitious thought but real action.”
He added: “Against the backdrop of the leadership election, here is an idea whose time has come.
“As our potential PMs look around for fertile areas of growth, they must conclude that our city regions offer huge opportunities, if allowed to unleash their potential.
“Devolution is an idea that has been shown enough light to take root, but now needs wholesale embracing to flourish.”
Metro mayors currently have some say over transport, planning and economic development but each devolution deal is different.
Steve Rotheram, metro mayor of the Liverpool city region, said: “While Westminster has been log-jammed dealing with Brexit, we have been proving that we can get things done. The whole point of devolution is that at a local level we are able to make decisions about our future better than Whitehall mandarins who know nothing of our specific, local circumstances. But the government has gone cold on further devolution, so whoever becomes PM needs to commit to devolving further powers and resource so that areas can shape their own destinies.
“As this report concludes, we must have real devolution, with further powers and funding devolved to city regions like ours.
“Only then will we see the inequality and injustice that has grown up over generations reduce and see our country fulfil its true potential.”
