Keir Starmer to promise new powers for all of England’s towns and cities

A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, deliver thousands of new homes and create high-quality jobs, Keir Starmer will announce.

In the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power, he will pledge that councils and combined authorities would get more control over housing and planning, skills, energy and transport of the kind currently held by London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester.

“If we want to challenge the hoarding of potential in our economy then we must win the war against the hoarders in Westminster. Give power back and put communities in control,” Starmer will tell party activists at their annual conference.

“An economy that works for the whole country is what the British people want. The Tories know that. They stood at this crossroads before. They called it levelling up. But as soon as they counted their votes, they turned back.”

Starmer’s devolution plans, which Labour aides say would give towns and cities the tools they need to develop their own long-term growth plans, mean that local leaders could request more powers – with a presumption they would be granted if they can demonstrate a strong record on managing public money.

There could also be an expansion of the combined authorities model across England, with other groups of local councils working together to deliver key public services in their region.

They would be handed Whitehall department-style funding settlements for housing investment, bringing together existing schemes and picking their own priorities in areas such as affordable housing, brownfield remediation and regeneration.

Mayors would get more control of strategic planning in their areas, while local authorities would be able to keep more of the money they raised through additional development, including residential and commercial sites.

Among the most potentially transformative elements of the plan is the proposal to let local authorities run their own local buses, reversing the so-called deregulation nearly 40 years ago, where services were put in the hands of private companies.

In recent months, Greater Manchester and Liverpool have been able to take control of bus services again, allowing them to set fares, routes and service levels, and also to integrate these with other local transport.

Currently, smaller councils without combined status are not allowed to do this, which would change under the devolution plans, helping them to plan bus services around new homes and other infrastructure.

Starmer will announce local power plans as part of GB Energy, a publicly owned clean energy company, under which residents would benefit from about 20,000 community energy projects such as small-scale wind and solar farms and heat generation schemes, giving them cheaper bills and so – Labour hopes – a stake in the developments.

The Labour leader will also give all metro mayors and combined authorities powers over adult education, something already the case in 10 areas across England including London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

The plan will involve mayors and the combined authorities playing a central role in turning some further education colleges into so-called technical excellence colleges, a new type of institution aimed at providing local areas with specific skills. Local firms could invest in the colleges, helping design courses to match their need.

Universities will be drafted in to improve a system known as local skills improvement plans, which already liaise with employers about the skills needed in the area, or potentially required in the future.