New PM noises on devolution "a good thing" says Wiltshire Council Leader
A bid for devolution in the Wessex region was turned down last year
The Leader of Wiltshire Council says he's encouraged by the incoming Prime Minister's aims to devolve power in the UK.
Andy Burnham takes over from Sir Kier Starmer as PM today (20/7), having replaced him as Labour Leader on Friday.
One of Burnham's early plans surrounds devolution, which will give local authorities increased decision making capabilities, meaning choices can be made by those who know best - the people living in a given area.
"Any Prime Minister talking about delivering greater powers, but hopefully at the same time greater resources to the regions is a good thing," Councillor Ian Thorn told us.
It's a promising stance for the PM-elect to take, given that the Heart of Wessex bid, which was tabled by Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils, was turned down during the first round of bids for devolution in 2025.
Cllr Thorn said working on that bid is continuing, but he has concerns that there might be too much happening in one Government department.
"There are ongoing conversations with government officials, to some extent with politicians. My concern is that the government has so many major initiatives on its agenda within the same department, one and a half million homes. We'll be hearing for other parts of the country about local government reorganisation.
"Our challenge is to ensure that there's enough bandwidth for government to consider devolution," he said.
Cllr Thorn added that a limited number of highly-placed Labour politicians are from the West Country, with Swindon South's Heidi Alexander, who is the current Transport Secretary, one of the notable exceptions.
Wessex counting cost of not being mayoral authority
The Wiltshire leader told us not being in a mayoral authority means the region is missing out on significant investment.
"I do think there's a real opportunity now. Andy Burnham has made the point about growth in every postcode. I think that's important and it's equally important to recognise that, based on our analysis, because we're not a mayoral authority, collectively the four councils are missing out on about 300 billion pounds a year in investment from government."
He said devolution would add to the trend in Wiltshire were the Council has encouraged the county's towns, parishes and city to take on more powers, which has says has been done "with great enthusiasm"
"We think from a Wiltshire and a Wessex point of view, we're in a much better position to make decisions in consultation with our residents and our communities," he said, adding that it makes having our say locally more powerful.
Asked what his message to the incoming Prime Minister was, Cllr Thorn said: "Stick to your guns. You've made commitments, don't backtrack. Try not to be distracted by the endless noise that tends to sweep around government."