City Deals response: Core Cities are trailblazers for devolution

Alexandra Jones, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities

“The eight City Deals agreed with England’s Core Cities mark a significant step towards greater devolution. Cities are critical to future economic growth and the new freedoms afforded through the deals will support cities in delivering jobs, skills and infrastructure, which will in turn help drive the national recovery.

“The challenge now for both national Government and cities is to make devolution work. Whitehall needs to join up across departments to deliver its commitments to let go of powers and funding. The Core Cities are trailblazers for devolution; they must demonstrate success if freedoms are to be extended more widely in the future.

“Government’s commitment that City Deals will not be a ‘one off’ event but a continuing process of negotiation is critical.  Core Cities should be able to negotiate for greater powers and freedoms as they prove that they can deliver their part of the Deals.  This bespoke approach to cities policy will allow Government and cities to be more responsive to the needs of local residents and businesses, and help to capitalise on the economic potential of cities across the UK.

“The Government must now agree the second round of City Deals and mid-sized cities and small fast-growing cities should be next on the agenda.  Many of these cities have a real potential and appetite to create businesses and jobs.  The Government now needs to give them the opportunity to make the case for how they would use additional powers and freedoms to drive local economic growth.

ENDS.

For further information please contact Rachel Tooby on 020 7803 4316 / 07748 183 026 / r.tooby@centreforcities.org

Download our City Deals Briefing at https://www.centreforcities.org/corecitydeals.html

A factsheet on the economy of each of the Core Cities is also available:

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• Manchester
• Newcastle
• Nottingham
• Sheffield