Lancashire will get elected mayor, Rayner says

After almost a decade of political wrangling, Angela Rayner appears to have confirmed Lancashire will be getting an elected mayor within the next 18 months.

During a question and answer session at the Convention of the North in Preston, the deputy prime minister said she understood "the perception" that places without an Andy Burnham-style figurehead may feel left out.

"I've been really straight that we want mayors," she said, "and with the new [devolution] priority programme, by May 2026, the whole of the north will have mayors, which is fantastic."

Lancashire local authority leaders had previously been asked to come up with proposals for "deeper and wider devolution" by this autumn.

All of Lancashire's 15 councils have been asked to submit initial plans for how they will reorganise themselves into new authorities.

The government wants councils to merge to create single unitary authorities to provide all the services in their area under an elected mayor.

Devolution minister, Jim McMahon, told the conference: "It's about giving local leaders the power to get on and do the job and a mayor is really important in that, they do make a difference."

The devolution white paper, published two months ago, stated that it was the government's "strong preference" that local areas opted for mayor if they did not already have one – but it also held out the alternative prospect of a non-mayoral "strategic authority", like the Lancashire Combined County Authority (CCA) that came into being last month, to oversee its existing devolution deal.

That "level two" agreement gives Lancashire powers including control of the adult education budget and some aspects of local transport, as well as a one-off £20m innovation fund.

However, a top-grade "level three" deal would see the creation of a long-term investment cash pot, with an agreed annual allocation, along with a say over local rail and greater control over brownfield regeneration.

The leaders of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen councils, Lynn Williams and Phil Riley, two of the three current devolution deal signatories, have previously expressed hope and confidence that Lancashire would end up part of the government's devolution priority programme of places where mayors would be in place by next May.

Lancashire County Council leader Phillippa Williamson, the other devolution partner, has previously stressed the lack of local agreement over a mayor, but had not ventured a particular preference on behalf of her own authority.

However, district council leaders are openly split over the issue – with the likes of Chorley's Alistair Bradley and Preston's Matthew Brown having come out in favour of a mayor, but others including Wyre leader Michael Vincent and Ribble Valley's Stephen Atkinson staunchly against.

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