Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson writes in…
Employment minister Dame Diana Johnson has this morning said devolution is already happening under Rachel Reeves, such as mayors having powers over local tourist taxes. The senior MP – who is backing Andy Burnham – said we’ll have to wait to see exactly what Burnham means by devolution in his speech later today.
Asked if she’d like to see different areas be given more powers over tax or spending, Dame Diana told Sky News: “Well, I think that’s already happened a little bit under Rachel as the Chancellor. We’ve seen that powers have been given to mayors, particularly around the tourist tax, that mayors can take up that if they want to use that in their local area.
“I think we need to hear from Andy this morning. He’s making his speech, he’s setting out his stall, and I think it will be interesting to see how far it goes in terms of fiscal devolution. But I think you know generally the Labour government was elected on the platform of devolution, pushing responsibility out to mayors.
“We’re creating more mayors. I have certainly, as an employment minister, had conversations with mayors, including Andy, about things like Connect to Work, which is one of our flagship programs delivered locally by mayors to help people to get into work who have got health or disability issues or complex reasons why they are not in employment, so this is already happening, and I think you know he’s obviously going to set out exactly what he means by devolution later today.”