I was pleased to see the Government recommitting to devolution in England and proposing more powers, funding and autonomy for Mayors.
My party’s government took the bull by the horns when it came to devolution, creating mayors and handing over more power locally.
But I’m clear that if we’re to change how we run our country by granting more power to the people most intimately affected by those decisions, then it needs to be done by multiple governments of all stripes.
It’s about results. Devolution so far has allowed us to tailor what we do in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. It’s important there isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ package of power handed down to every mayor all at once – this risks harming what’s best about what we do now.
What Manchester or Leeds need isn’t necessarily what we need. We’re clearly going to be looking for more funding to get work done, but we’re also looking to get more control over the money we get.
There is still a lengthy bidding process for a number of different pots of money at the moment. Having one settlement where we can decide where we spend this money would be a big exchange of power. After all, we believe we have a better grasp of where the money would be best spent – and this is something other mayors agree on.
Rather than putting so much of our energy into getting money, we can put it into using it and actually delivering results.
Devolution has meant we in Teeside have been able to focus on economic regeneration after the devastating closure of the Redcar steelworks in 2015, and get on with putting the building blocks in place for large job-creating projects to set up here.
It’s about getting skilled jobs back, training our future generations, and putting the work in to allow young people to build a good career here. This was and remains most pressing for us – and the focus and freedom we’ve had has allowed us to get on with doing it.
From our publicly-owned airport, to the job creation at Teesworks, and the investment in the industries of the future, we’ve made our mark.
This Government seems to understand how important these major projects are to bringing growth to our economy.
Of course, Conservatives must hold the Government to account, but we must also be grown up enough to work with them when their plans have the potential to improve things for people across our country.
The work has only just started – we’ve got a £1 billion transport programme I want to see delivered, green energy investors moving in, building projects creating thousands of jobs, and visions to breathe new life into the heart of Middlesbrough and Hartlepool through new development corporations.
We’ve also got British Steel’s Electric Arc Furnace and BP-led Net Zero Teesside, which will mean so much for our region.
It was a good first meeting with the Prime Minister. I’m clear I don’t want to sit there and complain for complaining’s sake. If you want to work with me, I’ll be straight and I will tell you exactly what I think. And, to his credit, he was very open.
If he does what he says, then I’m looking forward to working with him. This is because ultimately, I want to get stuff done for people in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.
As with most things, the devil will be in the detail, but the early signs are positive when it comes to more money and more powers for our area, and I look forward to working with the Government to bring jobs and investment here.
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