Burnham’s devolution deal risks ‘leaving Devon behind’ warns Lib Dem Charlotte FitzGerald
Charlotte FitzGerald, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Exmouth and Exeter East, has warned the Prime Minister and Andy Burnham that their devolution vision risks creating a left-behind Britain, pitting community against community as winners and losers, with Exeter, East Devon, and the wider county of Devon set to lose out without a metro-mayor.
Liberal Democrats have long called for a proper shifting of power away from Whitehall and into local communities, but Charlotte FitzGerald today raised urgent concerns that new plans to give areas with a metro-mayor additional income tax powers or revenues will deepen an already stark regional divide.
Government figures already show a significant gap between areas with and without a metro-mayor. As things currently stand, areas with mayors receive over nine times as much in capacity funding than foundation authorities - £2.26 million compared to £250,000 in 2026-27. Areas in the Devolution Priority Programme receive investment fund allocations of between £11 million and £44 million per year, leaving non-mayoral regions on the back foot.
Mayors across England also hold exclusive access to additional powers that would widen the gaps between those who have a mayor and Burnham’s left-behind areas. These powers mean regions with a Mayor get exclusive ways to keep money in the area where it is raised - funding critical public transport, infrastructure improvements, and providing more cash for local business growth. This means areas like Exmouth and Exeter East, which relies heavily on strained infrastructure on the East side of Exeter - including the Exeter-Waterloo rail line, which only next week is seeing half of its timetable lost - risk being left even further behind.
In response to the Government saying that areas without a Mayor will not miss out on devolution powers, Lib Dem candidate Charlotte FitzGerald says that Exmouth and Exeter East have been given no timeline, no fair funding, and no guarantee that Devon will ever see the powers that places like London and Manchester have been granted. As areas with a Mayor will not see these powers come into force until next April or even 2028, the Lib Dems say regions without a Mayor are being asked to wait even longer for less.
Raising concerns about Devon and the Westcountry forming part of Burnham’s ‘left-behind Britain’, Charlotte FitzGerald has urged the Prime Minister to rethink his devolution plans to provide direct support to local people in Devon, rather than focusing all the financial benefits on big metropolitan mayoralties.
With Parliament currently in recess, FitzGerald also criticised the lack of detail surrounding the proposals and the resulting inability to formally scrutinise the Prime Minister’s agenda. Ed Davey, Zöe Franklin (Lib Dem Spokesperson on Local Government), and Liberal Democrat council leaders jointly wrote to Andy Burnham earlier this month about his devolution plans and their shared concerns.
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Exmouth and Exeter East, Charlotte FitzGerald, said:
“Moving more power into local communities is something I and my party have championed for years, but these plans risk creating a left-behind Britain, while big city regions with a metro-mayor move further and further ahead.
“The Government’s own figures show that areas without a mayor - including here in Devon - already receive only a fraction of the funding available to strategic mayoral authorities. Adding new tax powers that are exclusively tied to mayors will only widen that gulf.
“Rather than create growth in every postcode, these plans create a dangerous postcode lottery - and communities across Exmouth and Exeter East aren't even being given a ticket. Rather than leaving Devon behind, the Prime Minister and Andy Burnham must rethink these devolution plans to make sure rural and coastal communities benefit just as much as major cities from devolving power out of Westminster.”
### ENDS ###
Photo: Todd Olive / Exmouth & Exeter East Liberal Democrats