What’s on the table at the council of nations and regions?

This article originally appeared in Labour List

With Keir Starmer due to host his first “council of the nations and regions” later today, and with salary comparisons very firmly off the table, you can’t help but wonder, what will be up for discussion?

Starmer has made no bones about the centrality of mayors and devolved leaders to his programme for government, signalling his intent early doors by visiting them all within five days of being handed the keys of number 10. He’s also clearly set out a remit for the regions, in the form of Local Growth Plans, on which headline thinking is due to be submitted later this month. No doubt these Plans will be in sharp focus today, given that securing investment will be the main theme of the agenda.

What are Local Growth Plans?

The idea of these Plans was first touted by Labour in their pre-election manifesto, where they committed to making their development a statutory requirement for all combined authorities, who will use them to set out how they will grow the economy in their region over a 10-year time frame.

Labour have made clear that Local Growth Plans must align with the new national industrial strategy and take advantage of new devolved powers – both of which we can expect to hear more about in the Budget. But, while we wait, revitalising the UK’s economy through growth – perhaps the most well-defined of the government’s five self-declared “missions” – appears to be the central focus of emerging Local Growth Plans.

The other missions

Progress towards the growth mission is likely to be measured, nationally and locally, by aggregate Gross Value Added (GVA) and the ability to attract and retain investment is seen as a critical lever in delivering it.

But what of the other missions? What role will Local Growth Plans play in aligning the drive to achieve high growth with the ambition to dismantle barriers to opportunity, accelerate the transition to net-zero or reduce preventable illness and health inequalities?

There is a risk that characterising the contribution of the nations and regions as being to growth, and growth alone, will exacerbate the very inequalities that devolution is touted to address.

There is, of course, an understandable air of expediency here – the government want to be seen to get moving on delivering the growth on which they have pinned so much of our collective hopes as a nation. But attracting investment should not be at any cost.

Counting the cost

The leaders around the table today should be prepared to ask difficult questions of potential investors about who will benefit. About investor service and their responsibility to the places they represent. They should be curious about where the proceeds of investor wealth end up because, if anyone knows the cost of newly created wealth not reaching the people who need it most, it’s our mayors and devolved leaders.

They, after all, witness daily the sharp end of an economic system that values aggregate growth over effective distribution and have counted the cost to their communities and at the ballot box.

What then, should they be asking for as they meet with Keir Starmer today to ensure that Local Growth Plans deliver for those in our nations and regions who need it most?

Going beyond GVA

First, they should urge the government to set the remit of Local Growth Plans to go beyond GVA. Economic growth matters, of course, but so does the growth of education, of better health, of improved outcomes for our children and better public services for our communities. These are the kinds of growth that the devolved leaders of UK want to build and with the right devolution, deliver.

To do this, Plans should specify how growth will be achieved and who will benefit, in line with the priorities of local leaders, like helping the long-term unemployed into work, reducing poverty, improving health outcomes and tackling the climate emergency.

The everyday economy

Second, mayors and devolved leaders should remind the government that, in some regions, over two thirds of the workforce are in sectors such as hospitality, retail and care.

While the government believe that their path to delivering the highest growth in the G7 will be via an industrial strategy founded on high growth sectors (like life sciences, financial services and defence) the idea that these sectors can benefit a wide group of people largely relies on jobs “trickling down” to related service occupations. Even if they do materialise, these roles are often badly paid with poor contract terms.

Improving the working lives of those in these “everyday economy” sectors is arguably more important and more impactful for the economic health of our regions than any number of biotech labs or Tesla factories.

Come with an ask…or two

Finally, the mayors and devolved leaders need to come with an ask up their sleeves. If places are actually to deliver their Local Growth Plans, they will need additional powers and, crucially, funding.

The government is making good noises on new powers and we can expect to hear more in the Budget, but, while talk of long term integrated funding settlements in Labour’s pre-election briefings were welcome, the news post-election has been worryingly light.

Make no mistake, without a commitment to funding that enables the leaders of our nations and regions to look two, five, ten or even twenty years down the line, those areas that have furthest to travel to deliver growth – inclusive or otherwise – will continue to lag behind those which are already faring well: the very problem that devolution set out to solve.