What's all this mayor business anyway?
A back-to-basics explainer, plus some of the usual data stuff
I could dedicate another newsletter to Teesside this week, but I won’t - just check Leigh’s social media feeds for details of a lost court case with PD Ports and what sounds like some fairly lackadaisical (TM Alan Hansen) work by the HSE investigating death and serious injury on the Teesworks site.
Instead, I’m going to do something I probably should have done a while ago, and attempt a back-to-basics explainer of the whole devolution thing - inspired by my chat with Newcastle University’s Policy Academy a couple of weeks ago.
What is devolution?
It’s the transfer of powers (and occasionally funding) from central government in Westminster, out into the regions. We’ve had a really formal version of that at a nation-level in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1999, we’ve had a Mayor of London since 2000. In 2014, the 2010-15 Tory-Lib Dem Coalition Government started the process for English regions too.
The transfer of powers was seen as a central part of what was then known as the Northern Powerhouse, and the first mayors were elected in 2017.
Where is there devolution now?
All over the shop, but mostly in the North…plus Cornwall.
If all of the agreed deals are delivered as expected over 2024 and 2025, then devolution will cover 57% of England’s population, 60% of its economic output and 42% of its land area (according to the Institute for Government).
What sort of powers are transferred?
Each deal is bespoke, although in practice there tends to be a menu of options - ‘a menu with specials’, as it’s sometimes referred to.
The menu includes:
investment funding (which can be drawn together with all the other various government funds into a single pot)
the adult education budget
business support, aka Growth Hubs
fiscal powers, so the ability to raise tax money from their areas including retaining business rates and adding a precept to council tax
transport, mostly buses and key roads already managed by the local authorities
housing, with dedicated funding to accelerate housing delivery, including on brownfield sites
The specials are:
police and fire, across some of the biggest devolved areas, but the geography has to line up
justice, only Greater Manchester have done anything on this, with a rehabilitation service linked to the region’s homelessness and public health efforts
health, again Greater Manchester are the only ones doing this, linking health and social care to work and employment support
Who gets those powers?
Where powers are transferred, they go to Combined Authorities - those are groups of local authorities who gang together with a promise to play nice and share resources.
That means, in practice, devolution is it is as much about local co-ordination, and local authorities agreeing to partner and pass up powers they each hold individually to a new Combined Authority, as it is about Westminster passing powers down.
In the North East, we’ve actually had three of these.
We had the North East Combined Authority, which included Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and Durham.
Then, in 2019, the first three went on their own as the North of Tyne Combined Authority…leaving the other four as the North East Combined Authority. They are about to reunite again…as the North East Mayoral Combined Authority.
Meanwhile the Tees Valley Combined Authority has just been cracking on since 2016 (2017 with a mayor) for Darlington, Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland.
Who is in charge of these Combined Authorities? / What’s this mayor stuff about?
There’s a variant of these called Mayoral Combined Authorities, and they have, as you’d expect, a mayor at the top.
The reality is that the government has mostly made having an elected mayor a requirement of having significant powers devolved.
The mayor is directly elected by the population of the areas they represent -Ben Houchen is one, for the Tees Valley, and Jamie Driscoll is another for North of Tyne. You'll have probably also heard of Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester.
In May, on the day of the local elections, Houchen is up for re-election and Driscoll is up against Labour’s Kim McGuinness (and some others) for the new North East mayoral spot.
The mayor is essentially the boss - they are the ultimate decision-maker and are the ones with the public mandate.
They have a cabinet underneath them, which is (usually) made up of the leaders of the local authorities which make up the Combined Authority. Those individuals tend to have specific policy areas they are responsible for - for example, the North of Tyne Combined Authority has the leaders and deputy leaders of Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside on cabinet. Newcastle leader Nick Kemp looks after jobs, innovation and growth…Carl Johnson (deputy mayor of North Tyneside) looks after investment and resources…Northumberland leader Glen Sanderson covers culture, creative and rural…and so on.
Who does the actual work?
Similar to traditional local authorities, the Combined Authorities have teams of officers who are responsible for doing all the actual work. They’re typically smaller than local authority teams, whoever, as they are tasked with running their mayor’s policy programme, some specific projects, and the co-ordination of work across their constitution authorities. A lot of the delivery of day to day services stays with local authorities.
There’s a chief executive at the top of the Combined Authority, responsible for running it as an organisation - not for its policy agenda. For the North of Tyne that’s Dr Henry Kippin, who is also doing double duty as the interim CEO of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) while it is established ahead of the election. It’s had its budget for the upcoming year approved already, for example…a necessary thing, given the mayor arrives with the financial year already underway.
What about the voice of business, and business support?
Great question. Traditionally, the Local Enterprise Partnerships have been represented on the board of Combined Authorities. Lucy Winskell OBE DL, chair of the North East LEP, sits on the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s board.
However, at last year’s Budget it was announced that Local Enterprise Partnerships were essentially being abolished. What’s happening is that, in April, LEPs and their functions are being absorbed into the highest relevant tier of local government…ideally that’s a mayoral combined authority.
In the North East, NEMCA’s geography lines up with the current North East LEP one, and so there’s a fair chance that even as funding and responsibilities shift, the successful programmes will continue and - I’d imagine - many of the staff will move across.
When’s the election then?
Thursday 2nd May, the same day as local elections across the country - that goes for both the new North East mayor, and the Tees Valley one.
In the Tees Valley, despite everything, Houchen is a run away favourite.
The North East race, though, is an interesting one. Driscoll was elected to the North of Tyne mayor position as a Labour candidate, but he was barred from standing this time around, leaving Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness a clear run at the nomination.
He's now running as an independent, while she has the full support of the party.
Why’s all this important?
It’s obviously important in that the North East is where most of you reading this live and/or work, and it’s a vast region - both geographically and in its population of around 2 million people.
For the first time, the region will have a single figurehead, someone to coordinate and lead and do more with the resources we have.
That person will, because of that mandate, be one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the country - or have the potential to be, at least.
That will be even more true if we end up with a Labour mayor, and a Labour Prime Minister - the North of the region will then have the chance to benefit from some of the attention the Tees Valley has had, where a Tory mayor and a Tory government have been working closely together, with the special privileges that brings.
Hopefully fewer Private Eye articles mind.
The QT launches this lunchtime
Some of you may have seen on social media that you’ll also be able to read my writing elsewhere as of today, when the first of my regular columns arrives with the very first issue of The QT.
The QT is the brain child of Brian Aitken, who I’m sure many of you will know as the former editor of The Journal, or through his work with Newcastle United.
It’s a weekly, online newspaper focused on the North East, committed to offering high quality journalism that’s independent and politically neutral. It will be, Brian has said, unashamedly pro-North East however.
It will work on a subscription model, costing £7.99 per month - with this first issue, and a limited number of articles thereafter, available free.
Here’s how Brian describes it:
“In old newspaper terms, The QT is a quality weekly newspaper that you read online. There’s nothing new about paying for news - hundreds of thousands of people still buy newspapers every day - and our market research showed that there is a gap in the current media landscape for a subscription product that offers quality stories told by quality storytellers.
“In a digital era dominated by pop-up ads and clickbait headlines, we want to offer our readers something of a sanctuary. The QT provides politically neutral, well-rounded journalism that will resonate with the people of the North East.”
The first issue is published at noon today, featuring me and a few other familiar faces, you can find it at theqt.online.
Donation Nation
Another Centre for Cities report out this week, this time on charitable giving across the country.
The North East ranks highest in England for the proportion of people giving to local causes.
However, the paper finds that more giving (in cash terms) happens in the South East - not a surprise, really, given higher incomes and therefore more spare cash.
The average North East donor gives £191 annually, compared to £346 in London.
Centre for Cities warn that some areas with high need don’t see high level of local giving, as a result of regional inequalities - although the North East bucks these trends with a higher propensity to give locally.
This isn’t the same figure as shown on the chart above - which is the proportion of all people who give - but amongst donors, 58% of them prefer to give locally in the North East. That’s 43% in the South East.
You can see in this one how our local giving (which is what the chart is ordered by) is so far above trend it pulls us out of sync with where we ought to be given the size of our bar on the chart generally.
The paper makes some policy recommendations, mostly around the need to include charitable giving in our thinking around levelling up, and the role of metro mayors in harnessing and targeted local charitable giving to help improve their areas.
GVA per job filled
Next to some new ONS data on gross value added (GVA) per job filled in 2021.
It covers travel to work areas, because why make geographies match or be simple, but finds the North East mostly in the £45, 46, 47k ballpark per job filled.
Sunderland is higher on £52.6k per job filled.
Broadly the whole North East has been on an upward trend, but still behind the UK average.
Darlington jumped out at me as being a bit different, because it’s had a dodgy patch since 2017, it peaked at £49.3k and has now fallen to £45k.
I don’t know why…if anyone does, tell me or comment below!
What I’ve been enjoying about this week
Tracy Chapman’s performance at the Grammys - worth five minutes of your time, just lovely
Taylor Swift, the woman single-handedly preventing the global economy from falling into recession by relentlessly touring and adding billions to nation’s GDP, and who was seen briefly in the above video…has been the subject of conspiracy theories about her NFL player boyfriend, this weekend’s Superbowl, and Biden’s electoral hopes
What’s coming up in the next week or so?
The QT launches at noon
PMQs later on
Some ONS data on coastal communities out later this morning
Labour market stats on Tuesday
Inflation figures on Wednesday next week
Initial estimates for GDP in Oct-Dec 23 on Thursday next week
Working with me
In the past year or so I’ve worked with people like Northumbrian Water, the North East LEP, NGI and Generator. I’ve delivered sessions for academics at Newcastle, Northumbria, Durham and Manchester Metropolitan Universities, plus a few others. And I’ve worked with several agencies helping them support their clients - including my work with Showrunner, which is where those sessions with HE came from.
Plus I’ve done plenty of straight-up writing work, most notably with Pattern.
If you’d like to join that group, get in touch.
You can find out more about me on my website.
You can email me on worroom@substack.com or arlen@arlenpettitt.co.uk
I’m @arlenpettitt on Twitter, and you’ll find me on LinkedIn and on Bluesky too.