Angela Rayner is vowing to make devolution the “default setting” for councils across Britain – despite having faced resistance from local authorities on a number of her building plans.
In a speech to regional leaders today, the Deputy Prime Minister will pledge to push power out of Whitehall and into the hands of people with “skin in the game” across a number of policy areas, including housing.
Labour’s ‘devolution White Paper’ will be published on Monday – which Rayner will use to ensure regional powers are “no longer agreed at the whim of a minister in Whitehall”.
It comes despite Ministers’ warnings that they would be prepared to step in if plans to build more prisons, wind turbines and homes met opposition at a local level.
Rayner and Labour will use the ‘White Paper’ to ensure regional powers are ‘no longer agreed at the whim of a minister in Whitehall’
PA
Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has said Labour’s devolution scheme will let regional leaders “guide” new projects “across areas, housing, transport and skills”.
She’s expected to tell leaders how England’s regions will take “centre stage” in Labour’s push to build 1.5 million homes and turn around a “disappointing” growth slump.
“Devolution will no longer be agreed at the whim of a minister in Whitehall, but embedded in the fabric of the country, becoming the default position of Government,” Rayner will say.
Tories have accused Rayner of ‘opening up another front on Labour’s assault on the countryside’
GETTY
But Tories have accused Labour of moving to “strip councils of their powers to make choices and to impose reorganisation from Westminster without local consent”.
A party spokesman said: “The Conservatives delivered over one million new homes in the last Parliament, and whilst we recognise the need to build more, these must be in the right places.
“This new announcement will do nothing to solve that – and instead open up another front on Labour’s assault on the countryside.”
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