Full Breakdown
Andy Burnham’s Devolution Drive: New Powers for English Mayors and a Call for Wider UK Reform
8/30/2026, 10:15:11 PM
England’s Mayoral Devolution Push
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has placed the acceleration of English devolution at the centre of his early premiership. Under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act passed earlier this year, two-tier local authorities will be replaced by unitary councils, and regional and metro mayors—designated “strategic authorities”—will gain new fiscal powers. By April 2027 mayors will be able to retain a portion of business rates generated in their areas, and from the following year they will receive a share of local income-tax receipts, replacing existing Whitehall grants.
Legislative Foundations
The devolution programme began under former Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, whose government introduced the 2025 Act.
Funding Shifts and Timeline
- Business rates: Mayors to keep an as-yet-unspecified share from April 2027.
- Income-tax receipts: A further share to be allocated from the 2028-29 fiscal year, pending Treasury negotiations.
- Strategic authority tiers: The House of Commons library briefing lists 14 top-tier “mayoral strategic authorities” (e.g., Greater London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West of England) with the broadest powers and multi-year funding settlements. A second tier—including Tees Valley, Greater Lincolnshire (led by Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns) and Hull and East Yorkshire—will receive more restricted, ring-fenced funding after an 18-month waiting period.
Official Statements & Responses
Burnham has repeatedly stressed that devolution should be “fair” and “balanced” across the United Kingdom. Speaking at the Port Talbot steelworks, he said the government would give “a fair hearing” to Welsh requests for greater powers, including control of the Crown Estate and possible devolution of policing. He added that the upcoming National Economic Council meeting in October would bring together the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to discuss these issues.
Criticism & Opposition
- Dan Thomas, leader of Reform Wales, warned that devolving policing to Wales could exacerbate existing problems, describing Plaid Cymru’s record on devolution as “failure and chaos.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “Maybe there's an argument for deeper devolution, so more power into the cities and the regions of Wales, to north Wales working more with the North West, or mid Wales more with the West Midlands, of the kind of devolution that is developing now quite quickly across England," Burnham said.” — Andy Burnham, gallery prime minister
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
- The discrepancy reflects uncertainty over whether the UK’s population-based funding mechanism will be altered.
- Policing Devolution: While Burnham expressed openness to discussing policing powers for Wales, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (January) previously ruled out granting new policing powers, creating a gap between departmental policy and the prime minister’s statements.
What’s Next
The National Economic Council is scheduled for October, where Burnham will meet the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider deeper devolution proposals, including Crown Estate control and policing arrangements. The outcome of that summit will determine whether the English mayoral model will be extended to other parts of the UK.
On 31 July, the government released a “Re-wiring the State” statement outlining the ambition to have a strategic authority in every English area by the end of 2027 and nationwide coverage by the end of 2028, underscoring the rapid timetable driving these reforms.
