The BBC's David Wallace Lockhart asks if Scotland's largest city should have its own elected mayor.
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Should Glasgow have its own mayor?BBC Politics
Devolution should finance transport, skills and industry, not become a rightwing contest to promise the largest tax giveaway That England is among the rich world’s most centralised countries underpins Andy Burnham’s critique of the economic history of the past 40 years. Only post-communist Europe deindustrialised as rapidly as Yorkshire and the Midlands did in the 1980s. Centralisation did not close every factory or pit, but left regions without the powers, finance or institutions to cushion the shock or build a resilient, replacement economy. Hence Mr Burnham’s radical and welcome plan to unbundle English government. There are three facets to his devolution programme. The first are the detailed and concrete proposals contained in a cabinet paper Mr Burnham released on Friday. This appears to be a blueprint to create a decentralised state organised around mayors as the key regional economic actors, while jointly governed pan-regional agencies could emerge, say for transport, energy, investment and industrial systems, that cross mayoral boundaries. Regions without mayors will get a chance to have one – or limit themselves to weaker powers. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Two of the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway's most significant private sector deals have been renegotiated, the government will announce on Friday, as it tries to demonstrate that Britain's biggest infrastructure white elephant is finally under control.
The government has given the green light to the site on the old Royal Mint, near the Tower of London.