Should every part of England get Greater Manchester-style devolved powers?
Devolved powers in England are uneven: Greater Manchester is an established mayoral strategic authority with the broadest powers, while other areas have fewer or none. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in April 2026, created a nationwide framework of strategic authorities. Established status needs an area's own proposal, and mayors outside London are being given planning powers like the London mayor's, subject to a consultation that closed on 5 October 2026.
8 Opinions
In theory yes, it seems sensible. Size of area, number of residents and type would need to be taken into consideration.
Sure, after Wales gets more!
An idea's failure should not immediately invalidate it. A cold, hard analysis of the implementation in more than one area is needed to establish, beyond doubt, that the idea is flawed. More succinctly: Is it a good idea badly done, or a bad idea?
I love the principle of devolution. One-size-fits-all works for baseball caps. But demographics are a complex mosaic of economics, age profiles, education, and geographic differences. The solution is granular policies with centralised procurement to maximise economies of scale.
I see the benefits in large metropolitan areas like Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, etc with millions of commuters and a vast urban sprawl. But I don't think this kind of devotion is applicable everywhere... you can't run Cumbria, Lincolnshire or Cornwall, for example, like Manchester. At that point you just get mayors of market towns creating vanity bureaucracy for the sake of it
More mess, more debt, more costs, more local mafias, more fraud, more corruption, more nepotism, more cronyism. No, thank you.
Central government is too large and expensive, it should be reduced with powers and responsibilities devolved locally
Manchester-style devolved powers? Because that turned out so well, didn't it.