ECONOMIC GROWTH

Dealer's choice

City devolution seized the news agenda last week with the chancellor’s announcement of a City Devolution Bill in the 27 May Queen’s Speech that could drive a radical transfer of powers for cities prepared to sign up to a directly-elected mayor. Jonathan Werran reports

What a difference a week makes. Barely a week after an expectant nation wondered what form of patched-together administration might eventually emerge from the General Election, a triumphant chancellor George Osborne returned to Manchester to set the pace for the Conservative majority government's Northern Powerhouse agenda.

The chancellor's lighting strike, which forced Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese to miss the Core Cities mini-summit, (see pages 14-15 of The MJ 21 May 2015), was used to confirm that a City Devolution Bill enabling a radical new model of urban government would form a central part of the Government's Queen's Speech on 27 May.

Jonathan Werran

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