Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026

Lord Jamieson Excerpts

Tuesday 10th February 2026 Grand Committee

[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.

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[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.