Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on agreeing new devolution settlements with (a) Cheshire and Warrington and (b) other areas in England.

The Government remains committed to extending and deepening devolution further across England. We will continue to work with local government in England to establish and grow new mayoral combined authorities, combined county authorities, and county deals. Discussions with places to identify potential candidates for the next set of devolution deals are underway.

The Government is particularly interested in exploring opportunities for devolution deals that will empower local leaders and communities where places want a directly elected leader or mayor, in line with the devolution framework published in the Levelling Up White Paper. Our existing mayors are already playing a powerful role in driving economic growth, improving public services and giving local areas a voice on the national stage.

The Secretary of State set out in his Convention of the North speech that Cheshire and Warrington are among areas in which we are keen to see devolution, as the Minister for Levelling Up, I have agreed to meet with council leaders to discuss their devolution ambitions in the coming weeks, following the local elections.