Devolution moves up a gear as metro mayors come together for ‘The Great North’ announcement

In this article, Imogen Holland and Tim Care consider the impact of ‘The Great North’ announcement and discuss what this tells us about the direction of the devolution agenda in England.

What is ‘The Great North’ initiative?

The Great North is a metro mayor led partnership that will see combined authorities, local government bodies, universities, businesses and other organisations collaborate upon cross-region initiatives that strengthen the North of England’s economy.

Initially, The Great North will focus upon four growth pillars:

1. Clean energy, in particular measures that help establish the North of England as a leading location for clean energy investment;
2. improving the North of England’s ability to attract inward investment, including undertaking trade missions and organising a Northern Investment Summit;
3. supporting ‘One Creative North’ which aims to support creative industries in the region to flourish; and
4. developing a joint plan with central government to identify and drive growth opportunities through partnerships with government departments and agencies.

Detailed proposals against each of these pillars will be developed in due course. However, one area where plans are advanced is new ‘Spatial Growth Corridors’ (initially focussed upon clean energy, defence and advanced manufacturing). Each corridor is expected to receive public funding towards building infrastructure as well as towards incentives to attract investment.

The partnership will be led by the eight northern metro mayors – Kim McGuiness, Tracy Brabin, Ben Houchen, Oliver Coppard, Luke Campbell, David Skaith, Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham (who are responsible for the North East, West Yorkshire, Tees Valley, South Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, Liverpool City region and Greater Manchester respectively). These elected Mayors represent 91% of the North’s 15 million people. It remains to be seen whether Lancashire, which established a County Combined Authority in February 2025, will join the partnership in due course, whilst Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington are both negotiating devolution deals that would see them become mayoral combined authorities in 2026.

Why has the announcement been made at this time?

The Great North partnership has been launched on the eve of the UKREiiF conference, which will see politicians, developers and other built environment specialists congregate in Leeds to discuss investment in infrastructure. It seems likely that this announcement has been timed to make a positive statement about the ability of metro mayors to deliver meaningful change and to contribute to the government’s mission of kickstarting the economy.

It has also been made weeks before Labour’s first spending review in eighteen years, which will be announced on 11 June 2025. It seems likely that some of the projects that The Great North partnership will deliver will be allocated public funding in the spending review.

What does ‘The Great North’ announcement tell us about Devolution?

First and foremost, the announcement of ‘The Great North’ partnership is an excellent example of devolution in action – this is an initiative that has been developed by the metro mayors and which will be delivered in the North, for the North.

That said, it has not occurred in isolation – throughout the development process there has been strong support from within Westminster. This is because the government regards further devolution as a core policy. Indeed, the government set out its ideas as to how to achieve this in the English Devolution White Paper published in December 2024, which set out a vision for a “devolution revolution” which would “ignite growth in every region” .

Within the same White Paper the government stated that it expects “Mayors will collaborate across regions to get things done – with the ‘Great North’ group of northern mayors showing the way as they collaborate on shared priorities”.

Therefore, ‘The Great North’ partnership has, from the start, been positioned as an example for other regions to follow. Therefore we anticipate that similar partnerships will spring up in other parts of the country, for example the Midlands in the coming months. We also anticipate that the government will look to encourage smaller deals between two or three combined authorities to develop particular sectors, noting the recent deal between Axiom Space, developer of the first commercial space station, and two combined authorities.

Conclusion

‘The Great North’ is an exciting prospect, bringing together important decision makers with the objective of strengthening the local economy. It is also an excellent example of devolution in action. However, the success of this initiative will ultimately be judged on the results delivered, which in practice means ensuring that the funds and powers are in place to deliver the initiatives required.