When Andy Burnham took to the stage this week, he didn’t just reprise his familiar role as “King of the North”; he sharpened the national debate on how Britain is run.By putting devolution front and center, the Greater Manchester Mayor has forced business leaders and policymakers alike to confront an uncomfortable truth: the UK’s highly centralised model is struggling to deliver growth, resilience and opportunity evenly across the country. As Westminster grapples with sluggish productivity and stubborn regional inequalities, Burnham’s insistence that more power must be pushed out of London is no longer a fringe argument-it’s fast becoming an economic imperative. This article explores why Burnham is right to make devolution his defining cause,what it means for business,and how a serious shift in power could reshape the UK’s commercial landscape.
Burnham’s devolution push and what it means for UK regional power
By turning local control into a political non‑negotiable, Andy Burnham has effectively challenged Westminster’s long‑standing assumption that economic strategy must be written in London. His agenda signals a shift from a “permission-based” model of local government to one where city regions negotiate on a more equal footing with central departments. For businesses, that could mean faster, more tailored decisions on issues that rarely fit neatly into Whitehall silos, including planning, transport and skills. In practice, this emerging model of regional authority promises:
- Quicker approvals on infrastructure and regeneration projects
- Place-specific tax incentives rather of uniform national schemes
- Locally-designed skills pipelines aligned with major employers
- Integrated transport policies that respond to commuting patterns, not departmental charts
As more metro mayors seek similar powers, the UK could move towards a patchwork of high‑autonomy economic zones, each competing to attract capital, talent and innovation. That raises strategic questions for investors and policymakers about consistency, accountability and capacity. Yet, if handled well, it offers a route out of stop‑start national initiatives and into longer‑term, locally owned growth plans. For business leaders, the emerging reality is clear: boardrooms will increasingly need to follow not only Downing Street announcements, but also the policy directions set in regional mayoral offices such as Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and beyond.
How business confidence and local investment hinge on devolved decision making
For investors weighing up where to put down roots, certainty and proximity matter as much as tax breaks. When strategic calls on transport, skills and planning are taken hundreds of miles away, businesses factor in delay, mixed signals and political risk; when those levers sit with empowered city-region leaders, the calculation shifts. Clear local mandates allow mayors to lock in multi‑year infrastructure pipelines, streamline approvals and respond quickly to sector needs, giving boards the confidence to move from “wait and see” to commit and expand. That is why developers, manufacturers and tech firms increasingly benchmark locations not just on cost, but on the depth of their devolved powers, governance track record and ability to co‑design long‑term growth plans.
Crucially, devolved authority creates a single front door for engagement, turning abstract Whitehall policy into concrete, place‑specific offers. This is where business confidence translates into capital expenditure, as firms can shape local industrial strategies, influence skills curricula and secure tailored support packages. Typical signals that reassure investors include:
- Stable, multi‑year funding settlements that outlast national political cycles.
- Locally controlled transport and planning to de‑risk site selection and logistics.
- Targeted skills compacts agreed with employers to address real workforce gaps.
- Clear performance data on delivery, published and owned at city-region level.
| Factor | Centralised | Devolved |
|---|---|---|
| Decision speed | Slow, multi-tier | Fast, local sign-off |
| Policy fit | Generic offers | Place-specific deals |
| Business input | Consulted late | Partner from outset |
| Investment signal | Fragmented | Clear and predictable |
Lessons from Greater Manchester’s model for transport housing and skills
In Greater Manchester, the mayoral team has treated buses, bricks and skills as a single economic system rather than separate policy silos. The new franchised bus network is being mapped directly onto areas earmarked for regeneration, with routes and fares designed to connect people to emerging employment clusters and training hubs, not just city-centre offices.This place-based logic is echoed in housing: local leaders are steering public and private investment towards brownfield sites along key transport corridors, pairing new homes with reliable, low-cost mobility and access to apprenticeships. The result is a model in which infrastructure is judged less by engineering outputs and more by how many residents it lifts into better-paid, future-proof work.
- Integrated bus franchising links deprived neighbourhoods to growth zones.
- Targeted brownfield development clusters homes near tram and bus interchanges.
- Employer-led skills programmes align training with real vacancies.
- Data sharing across agencies tracks outcomes in jobs, rents and ridership.
| Pillar | GM Approach | Business Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | Unified fares and routes | Wider labor pool, lower commute risk |
| Housing | Density on key corridors | More customers and staff nearby |
| Skills | Localised, employer-shaped courses | Reduced training costs, faster onboarding |
Policy recommendations to turn devolution rhetoric into real economic gains
To translate local empowerment into measurable prosperity, Westminster and town halls must move beyond high-level pledges and into the realm of hard powers and predictable funding. That means long-term, single-settlement budgets for combined authorities, not year-by-year beauty contests for pots of cash, and serious tax devolution – from partial retention of income tax growth to local control of business rates and selected property taxes. Crucially, metro mayors need the authority to align skills, transport and housing strategies with the needs of their local labour markets, backed by shared data platforms and clear reporting lines that make it obvious who is accountable for performance. Businesses,in turn,should have formal seats at the table through statutory economic partnerships that co-design investment priorities rather than simply being consulted after the fact.
Investors will only take the new settlement seriously if they can see a stable framework and clear rules of the game. That calls for a published national devolution framework, setting out which powers are on offer, what governance standards are required, and how success will be judged across places. Within that framework, regions should be encouraged to experiment with tailored incentives and regulatory sandboxes that support high-growth clusters, while committing to transparent evaluation so that effective models can be scaled. To keep rhetoric honest,government and mayors alike should be judged against a small set of headline indicators,such as productivity,employment and private investment,tracked consistently across time and place.
- Shift from short-term grants to multi-year settlements that give mayors real planning certainty.
- Devolve targeted tax powers to unlock investment in infrastructure and skills.
- Embed business in decision-making through formal regional economic partnerships.
- Create regulatory sandboxes to support innovation in key local sectors.
- Publish comparable data so local voters and investors can track progress.
| Tool | Who Leads | Economic Payoff |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-year funding deal | HM Treasury & metro mayor | Faster, bigger infrastructure projects |
| Business rates retention | Combined authority | Incentive to grow local firms |
| Skills compact | Mayor, colleges, employers | Reduced vacancies, higher wages |
| Innovation district | City council & universities | New high-value jobs and start-ups |
The Way Forward
As the political spotlight swings back to questions of growth, productivity and regional inequality, Burnham’s insistence on devolving real power rather than recycling old promises looks less like a local crusade and more like a national necessity.
If ministers are serious about rebalancing the economy and unlocking business potential beyond the M25, they will need to engage with that agenda – not just in Manchester, but across England’s towns and cities. Devolution is no longer a constitutional side-show. It is where the arguments about investment, skills, infrastructure and innovation now converge.
By putting devolution front and centre, Burnham has forced Westminster to confront a simple reality: the UK’s economic future will be decided as much in its city halls and combined authorities as in Whitehall. Business will be watching closely to see whether the rhetoric is finally matched by the transfer of power and resources that a genuinely levelled-up economy demands.
