Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Tory group wants mayors to have the power to raise tax
MOVE COULD FUND A RAFT OF NEW PROJECTS
SADIQ Khan and other mayors across England would be handed new powers to raise taxes – and face extra scrutiny – under plans backed by a high-profile Conservative group.
The Conservative-backing Onward think tank has published a new report setting out how the UK is one of the “most centralised countries” in the developed world and that, despite the promises of successive governments, the situation is getting worse rather than better.
Their paper, endorsed by an influential cross-party coalition of politicians including Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, former Chancellor George Osborne, West Yorkshire leader Tracy Brabin, Sadiq Khan and others, calls on the Government to step back from the “micromanagement” of England’s cities and counties.
It comes as Transport for London (TfL) is set to face new demands from Whitehall as it pleads for a long-term funding deal.
It sets out the problems with England’s “over-centralised” political system and makes 25 calls for radical change, including giving mayors control of 1p in every £1 raised from income tax in their areas. It would be equivalent to £6 billion a year nationwide – or around £250 million for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands and around £200m for West Yorkshire.
In return, mayors would face extra scrutiny and accountability and more control over running local services including transport, digital infrastructure and energy.
Mayors should also have the power to introduce a new “business rate supplement” to fund infrastructure projects, without the requirement for a referendum, the authors said, adding: “This supplement would allow mayors to raise funds for specific infrastructure projects, as occurred in London with Crossrail
“A 2% business rate supplement in the West Midlands could raise almost £20 million a year to finance infrastructure projects, while one in the North of Tyne could raise almost £5 million,” they said.
A similar tax could fund Crossrail 2 – the plans for a North-South rail link in the capital that are backed across parties but without any cash on the table.
The report did, however, highlight that the Mayor of London has much greater spending power than his counterparts elsewhere in the country.
In 2019, City Hall had a per head service spend of £687 – more than 1.6 times that of Greater Manchester (£424) and nearly 10 times greater than that of the West Midlands.
However, they said that even London’s level of control of public finances must be expanded as they lag behind European counterparts: “The final destination should not be merely levelling up to London’s position, as the Levelling Up White Paper suggests – we should look to go further.
“By international standards, London is fairly constrained in what it has control over.”
Commenting on the report, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “This report is a timely reminder of the benefits that mayors have brought and the need for the Government to deliver on its rhetoric – not just expanding the mayoral system to new places, but deepening and strengthening the role of mayors where they already exist.”
Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also threw his weight behind the report, saying: “The Mayoral Experiment must lead now to a Mayoral Moment – stronger mayors, and more mayors.”