Labour pledges more power and money to the region if ‘super authority’ is created

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband will use a speech in Birmingham today to pledge more money and greater power to the region.

But he is looking for a ‘Greater Birmingham’ or West Midlands-wide authority to be created first.

Miliband will say that a Labour government would provide £20bn to the regions over five years – that’s £4bn a year, double the current £2bn funding pot.

Labour wants to see the money used to pay for transport improvements, new housing and training schemes.

But Miliband will warn that funding will go to “city regions” and “county regions” where authorities have come together to create a combined authority.

That has already happened in many parts of the country but in the West Midlands a new combined authority would need to be created covering Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country and, probably, Coventry.

While ‘noises off’ recently have suggested there is more support for the idea than there has been in the past, there are sure to remain deep suspicions about the larger area being swallowed up by Birmingham.

Miliband will say that plans to devolve £20bn over the course of the next Parliament to combined authorities will be included in Labour’s General Election manifesto.

He is set to say: “Britain is the country of the industrial revolution and Birmingham was one of the great cities of that revolution. But the country of the industrial revolution has ignored the lessons of its own history for far too long: the country that once built its prosperity on the great towns and cities, like Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff, has become a country which builds its prosperity far too much in one city: London.

“Cities and towns that agree to come together with local businesses to plan for their economic future will be given historic new powers over funding for infrastructure, skills and economic development.

“They will be able to invest directly in transport and housing, as well as having greater say over skills, with local businesses for the first time controlling the funding of apprenticeships.”

A Labour Government will also demand that each combined authority has just one local enterprise partnership (LEP). Currently Greater Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry & Warwickshire all have separate LEPs.

The Labour proposals mirror to a large degree the conclusions of a study by former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine, who – working closely with the Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP – called for massive devolution of funding from Whitehall to the regions.

Commenting on Ed Miliband’s planned speech, Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation said:  “The principles outlined today are worthy of debate, however a key factor will be allowing LEPs to prove themselves before more funds and capabilities are devolved.

“Crucially we need to ensure that whatever LEPs are assessed against include a focus on genuine place-based challenges and business led solutions.

“When it comes to choices about getting value for money from limited resource in the next spending review, the next government will need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of an incremental approach, which allows LEPs to prove themselves in a more structured way, against the challenges of a big bang devolution of funds.”