Cameron backs more regional devolution

PRIME minister David Cameron said he would like to see more money devolved to the regions when he appeared in Liverpool yesterday.

After launching the International Festival for Business, Mr Cameron said there was a political consensus that business-led partnerships and the devolution of money were essential to an economy that is “rebalanced” both geographically and by sector.

But he refused to be drawn by TheBusinessDesk.com on how far central Government should go.

He told delegates at the British Business Embassy event at St George’s Hall: “Part of rebalancing the economy is Westminster politicians giving far more attention and powers to the regions. I’m really pleased that we’re devolving some of the powers and some of the money in order to make things happen. Everybody wants more… so do I.”

“The encouraging thing is after the argument about local enterprise partnerships and the regional development agencies, I think there’s a political consensus that business-led partnerships and devolving money is the future. The debate in Westminsiter is how far and fast that can go.”

More powers are being delegated to the UK regions by central government in the form of City Deals, and Manchester and Liverpool have been at the vanguard of the devolution debate, pulling together with borough councils to form combined authorities to gain more clout.

But they want more, such as a share of business rates revenue, or policies in areas such as housing, that are tailored for specific areas.

Speaking to TheBusinessdesk.com Mr Cameron said the City Deal framework could be added to, but did not give further detail.

“We’ve come up with City Deals… now we’ve got that process there’s no reason that can’t get bigger and bigger. That’s better than having regional assemblies or different ways of raising taxes. We’ve got a business-led mechanism. Now it’s a question of what powers are appropriate.”

At the event he cited a rebalanced economy as one of three key goals.

He said: “We’re on our way back from recession but there are three things I want to see: I want a full British economic revival; a rebalanced recovery; and a recovery that benefits every part of the country. None of these things happen by accident, they happen because we put in place the right policies, plans and approach to make it happen.”