Sir Keir Starmer and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown have unveiled a Labour Party blueprint for the future 'proposing the biggest ever transfer of political power out of Westminster and into the towns, cities, and nations of the UK'.
The Commission on the UK's Future, chaired by the ex-PM, has published its final report and in it, calls for 'handing more economic control to English mayors and local authorities'. Key proposals include replacing the House of Lords with a new Assembly of the Nations and Regions, and the creation of a new Council of the UK to promote joint working between governments across the nation.
As he unveiled the devolution-heavy, 155-page document, which gives 40 recommendations, Labour leader Sir Keir vowed to 'unbind' Britain from a centre that has 'not delivered', claiming people are being held back by a 'broken model' that 'hoards power in Westminster' with the country 'crying out for a new approach'.
He said in order to build a future the country deserves, Britain needed change involving 'higher standards in public life, a wider spread of power and opportunity and better economic growth'. "No more navel gazing or facing inwards - higher, wider, better - that is how Britain must set its sights," he said. "I am determined that, with Labour, that's exactly what we will do."
There's several nods - and praise - to Greater Manchester in the report, with Mr Brown suggesting the country could follow the city's lead on issues from transport to delivering public services. He said the commission was proposing 'the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster and Whitehall' that 'our country has seen'.
Mr Brown said the report identified 288 'new economic clusters', 200 of them outside London, capable of creating tens of thousands of high-paying jobs.
The panel suggested giving local communities new powers over skills, transport, planning and culture to drive growth, and replacing the House of Lords with a new democratic assembly of nations and regions.
"So all around us, in the towns, cities and nations of the UK, the first firms of the new economy are being founded and growing with the potential for clusters favourable to economic growth - and this allows us to think differently about the way ahead for our economy," says the report.
"Think of Manchester not as before as the world centre of the textiles industry but as the modern home of advanced machinery with sophisticated automated and autonomous robotic systems.
"Creative industries are also a fast growing sector of the economy, with real export potential. Learning from the success of Media City in Salford, government should work with local leaders to identify and nurture future creative clusters like film and gaming, likely to have a significant impact in the north of England."
The report said far too many parts of the country suffer from poor - 'or even non-existent' public transport. It said: "Today metro mayors and local councils cannot do enough about this. The Centre for Cities identified that in Manchester, only around one-third of peak time public transport journeys into the city centre are directly influenced by local transport authorities.
"All mayors do have the power to introduce bus franchising, and Manchester is set to do so in 2023/24 - but at a cost of £134 million. Others simply do not have the funds to undertake this, and also face significant legal challenges. Despite these hurdles many have made progress with the limited powers they have.
"This year the Mayor of West Yorkshire has capped bus fares at £2 - with similar measures being rolled out in Manchester and Liverpool. More powers should be pushed outwards to build on this."
Control and funding over bus services should be 'pushed' to a local level and local leaders should be able to shape local rail services, fares, services and timetables. "We also support the principle of devolving stable, longer term infrastructure budgets," adds the report.
Highlighting campaigns in Wigan and Manchester, the report said on public services that more services should be delivered at a neighbourhood level, with the public involved in shaping them. Manchester's model, it says, 'seeks to build integrated and locally responsive public services, tailored to local peoples' needs'.
"This should shape how the next Labour Government delivers public services," adds the report.
Sir Keir said Labour would aim to abolish the 'indefensible' upper chamber [the Lords] 'as quickly as possible', ideally within its first term in Government. But he did not commit to a timeframe for the move, stressing discussions are pending on when “exactly” it would come to pass.
He said at the launch event in Leeds that the sooner Labour can abolish hereditary peers, the better. He had hinted that some of the measures – including the democratic assembly to replace the Lords – may have to wait for a second term Labour government.
But quizzed repeatedly on when his party would enact the proposal to abolish the upper chamber during a broadcast round on Monday, he said he hoped to deliver the change within the first five years of governing. Sir Keir suggested the move, along with all other proposals in the report, could be achieved within Labour’s first term.
He insisted that his new commission would not be a “talking shop”, as he stressed the focus on sweeping constitutional reforms “could not be more relevant”.
"I’m fed up to the back teeth with sticking plasters for the problems we have got,” he said. "The underlying problem is our economy isn’t working.
"This is a strong, compelling set of recommendations that do what politicians have all agreed needs to be done, but nobody has actually done it, which is to be bold enough to say ‘we’ve got to stop those in Westminster and Whitehall pretending that they know best about the communities that desperately want to play their part in the future’.
"We are going to transfer that power to them, rebuild our economy.”
The commission’s report calls for a new constitutional law setting out how political power should be shared, with a requirement for decisions to be taken “as close as meaningfully possible” to the people affected by them. There would be an explicit requirement to rebalance the economy to spread prosperity and investment more equally across the UK, and the right to healthcare based on need rather than ability to pay would be enshrined in a set of protected social rights.
Towns, cities and other areas would be brought together as part of a co-ordinated economic strategy, with some 50,000 civil service jobs transferred out of London.
The panel also proposes a series of measures to clean up politics, including a “powerful” new anti-corruption commissioner and a ban on most second jobs for MPs.
Read more of today's top stories here.
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