Inaugural elections for Devolution Priority Programme to be delayed by two years.
Rt Hon Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has announced that the inaugural mayoral elections for Sussex and Brighton, Hampshire and the Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Greater Essex have been postponed until May 2028. Originally these were planned for May 2026.
In a statement explaining the government’s reasoning, Reed stated the decision was necessary to build stronger foundations for devolution and foster collaboration. The government argues this extension creates a meaningful period between the establishment of the new Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the elections themselves.
Separately, Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria have requested that their inaugural elections be deferred to May 2027.
All six areas within the Devolution Priority Programme are set to receive a collective investment fund of £200 million annually for 30 years, commencing once the new Mayors are in post. This investment is designed to stimulate growth across these regions and is in addition to other devolved funding streams.
Soundbites
The District and County Councils Networks alongside members of the Labour bench have expressed strong disappointment regarding the decision.
Jim McMahon, Labour MP for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton: “Local leaders across the political spectrum worked in good faith. They put aside self-interest and differences, and they did everything asked of them to secure a better settlement for the people that they represent. They reasonably expected the Government to do the same.”
“Following a statute process, all involved had a reasonable expectation that these elections would go ahead, and the Government knows that trust is hard won but is easily squandered.”
Cllr Richard Wright, chair at the District Councils’ Network: “Today’s decision to delay mayoral elections by two years is a backwards step that perpetuates England’s enduring power imbalance. It’s completely unacceptable that 28 million people living in non-metropolitan areas continue to be deprived of the mayoral devolution now given to all urban areas.”
“The fact that this announcement comes less than a week after around 100 district councils hit a Government-imposed deadline to submit reorganisation proposals, anticipating the prize of devolution as a result, adds to a sense of lost trust.”
Cllr Matthew Hicks, chairman at the County Councils Network: “County councils have pulled out all the stops to ensure new county combined authorities were up and running before next May, investing significant time and resources to do so. Therefore, today’s announcement is bitterly disappointing, preventing these areas accessing all the funding and powers they were promised from May 2026 and is a missed opportunity for a government who has put national growth as its central mission.”
“While the County Councils Network (CCN) welcome commitments to investment funds and capacity funding to progress strategic authorities’ arrangements in these areas, this unexpected development will pose questions over how these devolution arrangements will be taken forward, while injecting uncertainty for other county areas who rightly saw reorganisation as route map to greater devolution.”