Angela Rayner to pledge 'power shift to the North' as Deputy PM vows to 'break' system that 'hoards power'
28 February 2025, 01:05
Angela Rayner will tell leaders in the north of England that she will help them "break" the system that "hoards power and investment" away from them in a speech on Friday.
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Angela Rayner will tell leaders in the north of England that she will help them "break" the system that "hoards power and investment" away from them in a speech on Friday.
The Deputy Prime Minister will call her English Devolution programme the "biggest power shift in a generation" at the annual Convention of the North event, being held this year in Preston.
The Government is re-organising local authorities and bringing in new mayoral powers under its devolution plans.
Ms Rayner, who is also Local Government Secretary, is also expected to outline plans for more building in the North.
It follows proposal tabled in September to build a new 50-mile railway line as a cheaper but slower alternative to the scrapped section of HS2.
Journeys between London and Manchester would only be 15 minutes longer than under the original HS2 plans, a report has found.
The journey time would be 30 minutes quicker than they are today with the consortium behind the new line saying it could deliver "roughly 85% of the benefits of HS2 Phase 2" at 60-75% of the cost.
On Friday, Rayner will say: "I know that the North is impatient as anyone for real change - and I am too.
"The gears of change haven't always been well-oiled and a decade of decline has seen them rusted.
"You're being resisted by a system that hoards power and investment away from where it needs to be.
"Too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few. I'm here to help you break that system, and build a fairer one in its place.
"That's what our English Devolution programme is all about. It is the biggest power shift in a generation that will ensure nothing less than a wholesale total rewiring of government power in England."
