Join the devolution debate, says Sir Howard

SIR Howard Bernstein called on the business community to help shape the devolution debate when he addressed a pro-manchester lunch yesterday.

The Manchester City Council chief executive said there was a sense that regional devolution, or “devo Manc” in the case of Manchester, was only on the agenda because of the Scottish referendum.

In reality, it has been on the cards for some time but the Scotland debate brought a general recognition that the “Whitehall model is bust”, said Sir Howard.

He said: “There are a wide range of examples of how these national delivery models have fallen short of meeting the needs and aspirations of cities like Manchester. What’s now increasingly the case is that is becoming recognised. Whether you talk about ‘devo Manc’ or core cities, generally it’s absolutely the case that what we have now is an opportunity to drive a strong and vibrant devolution agenda for the benefit of Greater Manchester.”

He added: “There are things we can do now around skills and transport and integrated health and social care, but fundamentally if we’re going to take more responsibility we need more legislation so it’s very important we secure a cross-party consensus for these requirements.”

And he urged the involvement of business group such as pro.manchester, adding: “You can’t just rely on guys like me and political leaders like Richard [Leese].”