Labour has announced that six English regions will be granted the power to elect mayors for the first time, delivering the single biggest mayoral devolution package in history.
With new mayors, these regions will have unprecedented powers to drive local growth, improve housing and turbocharge transport, putting Labour’s Plan for Change into action across the country. Elections for these new mayors will take place in May 2026.
The government has also signed into law new devolution deals that mean 80% of England is now set to be covered by devolution agreements – around 44 million people.
The announcements mark the latest stage of a devolution agenda that has moved at unprecedented pace since Labour entered government in July 2024, with Labour making good on its manifesto promise to transfer power out of Westminster and into the hands of local communities.
In just seven months this Labour government has not only announced these deals but also launched an ambitious programme of local government reform to deliver more efficient government, while backing councils with £69bn of funding to rebuild our local services after 14 years of Conservative mismanagement and decline.
Labour’s rapid approach to devolution stands in stark contrast to the record of the previous Conservative government’s failed ‘levelling up’ agenda. A scathing report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies last year found that levelling up moved at a ‘glacial’ pace under the Tories, with no progress made on half of the previous government’s key targets and core council funding in the most deprived areas falling by a quarter since 2010 in real terms.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has openly described herself as a “devolution sceptic”, adding that “we need to talk about rolling it back”.
Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government: “Labour promised to give power to local leaders with skin in the game to determine the future of their communities. We’re making good on this promise by introducing the biggest mayoral devolution package in history.
“Devolution is key to delivering our Plan for Change which will drive growth, build 1.5 million homes and improve living standards across the country”
We asked the Conservative Party for a comment, but at the time of publication, none had been received.
New mayors to be introduced by Labour in historic devolution drive
