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Greater Manchester has called on the UK government to back its Levelling Up Deal, calling for support with the powers and funding to deliver on ambitions for the city-region.
The Levelling Up Deal would follow on from previous devolution arrangements for Greater Manchester, such as over health and social care, and could represent a blueprint for further devolution for local leaders in England. Plans, put forward by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, include:
- Delivery of a London-style transport network with affordable fares, and moving towards a zero-carbon system
- Removal of one million tonnes of carbon from the Greater Manchester economy
- Creation of desirable places to live, work and do business
- Opportunities for people to retrain and gain skills for roles across the city-region
- A ‘Golden Triangle’ of innovation excellence within the North’s towns and cities to drive growth and close the productivity gap between North and South
Greater Manchester’s Levelling Up Deal align with the ‘five gamechangers’ published by NP11 leaders (representing the 11 Local Enterprise Partnerships across the North of England) earlier this week.
Work on delivering some of the key points set out in the deal has already begun, with the city-region planning to bring its bus network under public control. Ambitions to accelerate plans to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 1 million tonnes in the next three years were also announced by Andy Burnham this week.
The city-region is now calling on government to deliver a real partnership between Westminster and local leadership in Greater Manchester that will set out clear responsibilities, local accountabilities and funding to deliver on commitments for levelling up more deprived regions of the UK.