Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026

Tuesday 10th February 2026 Grand Committee

Considered in Grand Committee

17:10

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026.

Relevant document: 47th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I will speak to both this draft order and the draft Cumbria Combined Authority Order 2026, which were laid on 18 December 2025. For both the Cheshire and Warrington combined authority and the Cumbria combined authority, I will use the term “strategic authorities” hereafter, unless there is a reason to be specific in the debate.

These orders provide for the establishment of two new strategic authorities and provide for their mayoral elections, as part of the Government’s commitment to widen and deepen devolution across England. This commitment is being delivered, in part, through the devolution priority programme, which provides a fast track to establish a new wave of mayoral strategic authorities. Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington are two of the areas on the devolution priority programme, and taking forward these statutory instruments represents substantial progress towards fulfilling our commitment to move power out of Whitehall and back to those who know their areas best. The Government have worked closely with the constituent councils within Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria on these instruments. All the respective constituent councils have consented to the making of their instrument, and I thank the local leaders and their councils for their support.

The instruments will be made, if Parliament approves, under the enabling provisions in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Both strategic authorities will be established the day after the day on which the instruments are made. The inaugural mayoral elections are due to take place for both on 6 May 2027, and their elected mayors will take office on 10 May 2027 on a four-year term.

The instruments make provision for the governance arrangements of the strategic authorities. In each case, each constituent council appoints two of its elected members to be a member of the strategic authority, with the mayor also a member once in office. The strategic authority can also appoint non-constituent and associate members to support its work. Each voting member is to have one vote, and the vast majority of decisions are to be determined by a simple majority of the members present and voting. Once the mayor takes office, that majority must include the mayor, or the deputy mayor acting in place of the mayor.

The instruments provide some functions in relation to transport and economic development, but there is a strong interrelation here with the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. Subject to Royal Assent to that Bill, these strategic authorities will be classed as mayoral strategic authorities, and the functions reserved for that tier will automatically be conferred to the strategic authorities. Even before the mayor is in office, these strategic authorities will be able to exercise mayoral strategic authority functions, with the exception of those that are specifically reserved for the mayor.

17:15

MHCLG consulted on proposals to establish these strategic authorities between 17 February and 13 April 2025. The purpose of these consultations was to gather evidence and information on the effects of establishing these mayoral strategic authorities. Responses were received from a wide range of stakeholder groups, including members of the public, businesses, councils, universities, third sector bodies and other bodies, and a summary of responses has been published on GOV.UK. The Government carefully considered the responses and, on 17 July, confirmed to Parliament that the statutory tests, which are required to be met in order to establish strategic authorities in Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington, have been met.

Subject to the making of these instruments, both strategic authorities will receive devolved funding. This will include devolved funding for transport and adult skills. They will also receive capacity funding to support setting up the new institutions. They will receive £1.5 million this year and a minimum of £3 million over the next three financial years. They will also receive a 30-year mayoral investment fund to kick-start local economic growth and support key local priorities.

To conclude, these instruments represent clear progress im our mission to widen and deepen devolution in England and will make this a reality in Cumbria and in Cheshire and Warrington. They will empower local leaders to deliver for their communities, improving the lives of, and opportunities for, their residents. I hope noble Lords will join me in supporting the draft orders, which I commend to the Committee.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these two statutory instruments, which are progress on the way to the Government’s policy of mayoral devolution. I accept the notion and principle of devolution as being very positive, but, as the Minister will know, I have questioned the way it is being done, and I have one or two comments to make in that regard.

Mayoral strategic authorities are being created across England, ostensibly of a similar nature. However, the population of the new Cumbria combined authority will be around 500,000, and the Cheshire and Warrington combined authority population will be nearly 1 million. How does this compare with what we have already? Well, in West Yorkshire, the mayoral authority serves 2.5 million people; it is five times as large as the new Cumbria one will be and, presumably, will be offering similar services. My own council, where I am still a councillor, has a population of nearly 500,000, which is as big as the proposed Cumbria combined authority.

I will be interested to hear how the Minister expects the Government to respond to this: there will be various layers of mayoral strategic authorities, because those mayoral authorities of a very large population, in the met areas mainly—of course, we always exclude London, because it is a separate entity altogether—will inevitably become the big players. How do the Cumbrias of this world, which are not as big as unitary councils, operate in being able to deliver on transport, skills and so on? There is a question of size, which I would like some answers on.

The other challenge in setting up these strategic mayoral authorities concerns the constituent members of the authority. For Cumbria, only two unitary councils are going to come together to form the Cumbria combined authority. The way in which these are set up—there is a directly elected mayor, and the combined authority consists of a member from each constituent authority plus those who can be nominated on—means that there will be three directly elected members on that constituent authority. That seems unusual to me, let us put it like that, because associate members will not be able to vote. Can the Minister explain how that might work?

The other question I have is about the fact that, as we are discovering in the English devolution Bill, mayors will be able to appoint up to seven commissioners to fulfil the tasks. I understand that there will be many major strategic tasks to undertake, but I challenge the idea of having appointees rather than people elected to these positions. Will Cumbria, for instance, be able to appoint up to seven commissioners? Do the Government expect that to be the case? Will there be any restrictions on the number? Ditto for the associate members, particularly for Cumbria, because it is quite small. The Cheshire and Warrington authority will not be much bigger; three authorities are combining there, I think.

This model of devolution is being rushed out across England. Where such a model has existed, have the Government done any assessment of the effectiveness of that model? I live in a mayoral strategic authority. If somebody asked me, as somebody who is already democratically elected in part of it, what has been achieved, I would struggle. I am sure that some things have been achieved, but are they going to shift the dial, as they say? I do not know, but I think the Government should have some way of testing the effectiveness of it all.

When I looked at the number of folk who engaged with the consultation, I discovered that it was very few. What on earth does it mean to your everyday person on the street? Not very much, so very small numbers engage. However, roughly two-thirds of those who did engage opposed it. How was that view taken into account? If it was not—that is, if it was just dismissed because the Government have this model that they want to roll out across the country, which they are entitled to do—then do not ask people, just do it, if you are not going to take any notice of the comments they make. It seems that people were totally ignored.

I have one final question in response to the comments made by the Minister. She said that, in the constitution of these authorities, if a mayor is not present for a decision-making purpose, the deputy mayor should take their place. The deputy mayor is an appointed person—

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Pitkeathley) (Lab)]

My Lords, there is a Division in the Chamber.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

I will be quick.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Pitkeathley) (Lab)]

The Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes; we will then come back to the noble Baroness.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

I should have been quicker.

17:24

Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.

17:35

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, I will just repeat the final comment I had to make. When the Minister referenced how the constituent authorities would be able to vote in decision-making mode, she referenced the fact that if a mayor was not able to be there, the deputy mayor could take their place and vote. Either that means the deputy mayor is an elected councillor who is nominated to be the deputy mayor in a constituent authority, or it may mean, as it does in my mayoral authority, that the deputy mayor is an appointee. I have a problem if they are an appointee, because they are not democratically accountable. Decisions should be made by people who are democratically accountable to the electorate., I would love that to be clarified. I wish I had finished before the Division, but with those remarks, I hope the Minister will be able to put me right on all the issues I have raised.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, I first declare my interest as a councillor in Central Bedfordshire. I am grateful to the Minister for introducing these orders, which establish mayoral combined authorities for Cheshire and Warrington and for Cumbria.

As we have made clear in the discussions on the devolution Bill, we support the principle of English devolution and promoted this while we were in government. We support the creation of combined authorities where they have genuine local support, are properly funded and are designed to reflect the identities and needs of their areas. However, that support for devolution in principle does not absolve the Government of their responsibility to demonstrate that these proposals meet the statutory tests as set out in the 2009 Act, nor does it remove the need for proper scrutiny.

The question of funding remains unresolved and frankly a little bit troubling. The Government have indicated that these new authorities will receive additional funding over a 30-year period. How such long-term funding commitments will be guaranteed in practice is not clear. Can the Minister explain how the Government intend to provide genuine certainty to these combined authorities? They will need that if they are going to invest in long-term infrastructure projects, skills and transport planning. That requires predictable funding going forward. Also, as an aside, will mayors in future combined authorities receive similar levels of funding?

Linked to this is the mayoral precept. These orders enable the new mayors to levy an additional charge on council tax to fund these functions. While that power may be appropriate in some circumstances, it raises legitimate concerns about local accountability and affordability. We would welcome clarification from the Minister on the detail of central government funding expected to support local devolved functions and on to what extent the Government anticipate or indeed rely upon the use of the mayoral precept to bridge any funding gap. That also raises the question that the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, was moving towards of how we ensure scrutiny and holding the mayor to account.

The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, also raised the issue of size. Given the powers that the Secretary of State will have in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to push through potential mergers, what is the Government’s intention here?

Finally, I raise a specific concern about Cheshire and Warrington, which is the financial position of Warrington Borough Council. The estimated £1.8 billion of debt carried by the council is concerning, and it is not at all clear how the creation of a mayoral combined authority interacts with that reality. We ask for further detail: what special measures will be put in place to ensure that the debt does not undermine the financial stability of the new authority as a whole? Can the Minister assure the Committee that the creation of a combined authority will not directly or indirectly place additional burdens on neighbouring councils or local taxpayers?

Devolution done well can be transformative, but devolution done poorly risks creating new layers of governance without the trust, clarity or resources required to make them effective. We urge the Government to consider seriously the concerns raised by local communities, the scrutiny committee and this House. We will continue to support devolution that is consensual, properly funded and genuinely local, and we will continue to challenge proposals that fall short of these principles.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, for their comments on this statutory instrument. I will try to answer all their questions, but, as usual, I will check Hansard and make sure I have replied to the issues that they have raised.

The noble Baroness raised the issue around the differing sizes of the authorities. I appreciate the points she makes on that. Of course, she will know—as I do, since I worked extensively with my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill—that Cumbria is a very sparse rural area. When the Government look at the sizes for these local authorities, we need to agree sensible devolution geographies. The Government consider the scale, the economy, the contiguity, making sure we have no devolution islands, how we are going to deal with delivery, the alignment and the identity. It is not possible to meet all the principles. We prefer these combined authorities to have a population of around 1.2 million to 1.5 million, but that is not possible in all areas. We recognise that with Cumbria. It is important that we take account of local circumstances, so we work with the authorities to make sure we find optimal solutions to their issues.

On the constituent members, they are agreed with the constituent authorities concerned. They will vary because the areas vary, but it is important that constituent members play an important role in those local authorities. We set them up as bespoke arrangements depending on local circumstances.

On the noble Baroness’s question about commissioners, we will have a system where all mayoral combined authorities can appoint up to seven commissioners. Some may choose not to do that if it is not appropriate for their area, but we want the flexibility for those who wish to do it.

The noble Baroness asked about the assessment of effectiveness. There is an ongoing evaluation programme for the devolution programme. It is important that we do that. We have a number of authorities at different levels of devolution, including some established mayoral combined authorities. We continue to look at the programme, but the evaluation so far has told us that it is genuinely delivering for the communities involved. I am sorry if the noble Baroness does not feel that that is the case in her area; there may be people who have a different view on that locally.

The noble Baroness also asked me about the public responses to the consultation process. I take her point, but the purpose of the consultations is to gather evidence and information on the effect of establishing a mayoral combined authority over the proposed geography. A range of views was provided by respondents, including evidence setting out the potential benefits, as well as some of the concerns raised, and the Government carefully considered the responses received. The results of the consultation very much formed part of the assessment made by the Secretary of State—it needed to do so because it must meet the relevant statutory tests set out in Section 110 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act. For both Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria, the tests were met.

17:45

Mayoral strategic authorities are a proven model of devolution that unlocks regional growth and provides local leaders with the tools, funding and freedom they need to deliver on key local priorities, to create new jobs, to improve transport and to enhance the local skills offer for their communities. Inevitably, some people will have concerns about the local identity or the place, but in the areas where this has already happened, I do not think that people feel that they are losing their local identity; in fact, they are gaining a lot in terms of powers, freedom and funding to deliver what they need for their local area.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me about funding for these combined authorities. The Government will help with the costs associated with the new authorities. Each area will receive £1.5 million this year in capacity funding and, at a minimum, a further £3 million over the next three years to help with core running costs. They will also receive their investment fund, as well as devolved funding for specific functions such as transport and adult skills. Beyond the support provided by the Government, the budgets of strategic authorities and how any costs are funded is a local decision. The draft orders state that the constituent councils will be required to meet the costs of expenditure reasonably incurred by the mayor, which is necessary to ensure that a balanced budget can be reached.

The mayoral investment fund is calculated by population. Cheshire and Warrington will receive a £21.7 million a year mayoral investment fund, or £650 million over 30 years, and Cumbria will receive a £11.1 million a year mayoral investment fund, or £331 million over 30 years. The start-up funding for the priority programme areas has already been decided. Further funding will be decided once the geography and the programme for those areas have been settled.

The noble Lord asked about scrutiny. Each of these authorities will have an overview and scrutiny committee. As we go through the process of discussing the English devolution Bill, we are very strongly considering local public accounts committees for the areas concerned, so that not just the services in that area but all the service delivery supported by that mayoral authority can be considered by a local public accounts committee. I cannot give the noble Lord any detail yet about how that will be shaped—we are still working on that proposal—but I hope that, on Report, I will be able to give a more detailed response to that question.

The noble Lord asked about the statutory intervention in Warrington and the best value notice in Cheshire, which are outstanding, and how they will impact on funding. We are providing financial support to the combined authority, including through the capacity funding that is intended to support establishment and ongoing running costs and the 30-year investment fund. On 8 May 2025, the Government issued a best value notice to Cheshire, highlighting concerns and asking the council to provide assurance of improvement. On 9 July 2025, Ministers issued statutory directions to Warrington and appointed ministerial envoys, some with powers to exercise council functions, to oversee and support the council’s improvement.

These targeted models of support are designed to drive the improvement work needed at each council and support their effective engagement in devolution and the Cheshire and Warrington combined authority. We continue to work closely with both councils and to monitor their progress. Clearly, one of the purposes of this will be to make sure that there is no ongoing impact on the new combined authority as we go forward. I hope I have answered all the questions—

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

Before the Minister finishes, will she answer my question about the position of the deputy mayor?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My apologies; I did not write that down because we were called out of the Room. A deputy mayor is there to do exactly what it says on the tin: deputising for the mayor. The deputy mayor can deputise for the mayor. It is not an elected position, and I understand the noble Baroness’s concerns about that, but all those mayors will need a deputy, so the deputy mayor can stand in for the mayor at meetings and cast the mayor’s vote. That is the situation.

In conclusion, these instruments deliver the commitment made—

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

The Minister kindly answered my question on the investment fund. The two issues I had with it included that it is 30-year funding. If you are going to come up with a programme of infrastructure funding over 10 or 15 years, you need certainty that you will get that £27 million or that £11 million every year. I know it is a difficult question to answer, but what assurance or certainty will the new mayor have that that funding will be available for those 30 years? I appreciate the intention, but is there certainty? The second part of that question was: will a similar level of funding be available for all the other combined mayoral authorities as they go forward, accepting the point that the Minister made about population?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The purpose of devolution is, of course, to get the powers and funding out to local areas to do the investment they need. I am not going to guarantee exact amounts for funding settlements that we have yet not agreed with local areas, I am sure the noble Lord will understand that, but it is the Government’s intention that all the new areas will have investment funds, and of course they also have powers to borrow. Provided they meet the prudential requirements that all local government borrowing has to meet, they will have those powers as well.

In conclusion, these instruments deliver the commitment made to Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria to establish combined authorities in their areas, and I hope that the Committee will welcome these orders.

Motion agreed.