Next May will see the election of a “Mayor of the East Midlands” with the establishment of the “East Midlands Combined Authority”. But it will be a more modest entity than some had hoped. It will only comprise Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire – encompassing the territory covered by Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Derbyshire County Council, and Derby City Council. Leicestershire is not taking part – which has caused some ill-feeling. This was due to Leicester City Council (which has a directly-elected Mayor) opposing the deal.
Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield and the Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has announced that he is seeking the Conservative nomination to be the first directly elected Mayor. In a message on YouTube he stresses that “he was born and raised in North Derbyshire” and “went to school in Derby”. Thus he shrewdly establishes his credentials in both counties. He has an upbeat tone about the chance for “wrap around” powers for skills and training and transport connections.
The reality though is that if you look at the East Midlands Devolution Deal it’s pretty thin gruel.
It declares:
“No local authority functions are being removed from any local authority in the area, excluding transport functions as agreed with the Constituent Councils.”
Rather than extra money, the point is about more local control over how it is spent, in such areas as skills, transport, and economic development. For instance, Leicestershire will still get its share of the “Shared Prosperity Fund”; the issue is who decides how it is spent? But if there is a decision on which new road should get priority, why not let the county council decide? Why the need for a new Mayor?
You might wonder why the councillors in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire would go along with the deal if there are no tangible benefits. But there are benefits to the councillors. As noted above, they don’t lose anything, while they will gain generous allowances for attending a few East Midlands Combined Authority committee meetings.
The deal does include the power for an extra precept on the Council Tax and a Business Rates supplement. So that would provide some extra funds – though I’m not sure the people of Leicestershire will be too distraught at missing out. Should Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, decide where to put the bus stops in Leicestershire? He should not. But then I don’t think he does anyway. The county council has a partnership arrangement with the bus companies over such matters. Will they really miss out by not handing over such power to a Combined Authority – with the exciting power to impose a Council Tax precept? Why not simply devolve adult education classes to the upper-tier local authorities rather than create a new layer of bureaucracy?
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Bradley himself says:
“Devolution offers so much potential but what we certainly don’t need is devolution that creates more bureaucracy and higher bills for taxpayers. Instead, we need a system that brings decisions right up close to local people, because they know better than anyone in Whitehall how to improve their communities.”
But the snag is that evening classes and the location of bus stops are the norm once you strip away all the grandeur. Similar points apply to the forthcoming North East Mayoral Combined Authority and its Mayor. The Mayor of London does have significant power; to a lesser extent so does Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester. Both have responsibility for policing, an important example. When it comes to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, the Police and Crime Commissioners are due to continue in office. For most of the “Metro Mayors” it is more about prestige than power.
Bradley has not yet announced if he will relinquish his roles as an MP and county council leader should he be elected Mayor. There might be some vulnerability for him on that question given the sensitivity around MPs having second (or third) jobs.
Being a Police and Crime Commissioner or a council leader (certainly of a large local authority such as Nottinghamshire) has far more power than being a typcial Metro Mayor. The extent to which the power is used – rather than going with the flow of officialdom – is another matter. Nottinghamshire County Council increased the Council Tax this year by 4.84 per cent, just below the maximum allowed. That suggests that Bradley is a low-tax Conservative in principle but a high-tax Conservative in practice. Not that he’s the only one.
Anyway, what chances has Bradley got of getting the gig, such as it is? Surely he must be the favourite for the Conservative nomination. He has already had supportive messages from his colleagues Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith. But will he beat Labour? They are yet to choose a candidate but contenders include former MPs, Paddy Tipping and Clare Ward, and former BBC journalist John Hess.
Nottingham City Council is a Labour stronghold. Derby City Council has Labour well in minority control, but with a big lead over the Conservatives. As is the pattern elsewhere, outside the cities the Conservatives are stronger. Derbyshire, as well as Nottinghamshire, are councils with solid Conservative majorities. So if the parties are evenly matched nationally it might be pretty competitive. At the moment that is not the case.
For Bradley to be in with a decent chance of victory there would probably need to be quite a big advance in Conservative popularity more generally.