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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her comments to the Convention of the North in Preston on 28 February 2025, on what evidential basis she said that the whole of the North will have elected mayors by May 2026.

Earlier this month, inaugural mayoral elections were held in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire. They now join the rest of Yorkshire, the North East, Tees Valley, Liverpool City and Greater Manchester as mayoral combined authorities.

Continuing our ambition to see the benefits of devolution extended across the North, the Deputy Prime Minister announced six places on the Devolution Priority Programme with a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area – including Cumbria, and Cheshire and Warrington – which are receiving the full backing of government.

Finally, we are continuing to work with Lancashire Combined County Authority to deepen their existing devolution agreement and, dependant on their ongoing governance review, we will explore a path towards mayoral devolution for the region.

Clearly it is for local leaders to organise and secure consensus in each of these areas, but as has always been the case, the government stands ready to work as partners in achieving this.