Herts County Council’s Conservative leader ready to work with Labour Government on devolution plans

Hertfordshire County Council’s Conservative leader has signalled that he wants to work closely with the new Labour Government to devolve more powers away from Whitehall.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has written to local authority chiefs across the country, echoing her party’s manifesto commitment “to widen and deepen devolution across the country”.

She has invited them to partner with the Government “to deliver the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen”.

HCC leader Cllr Richard Roberts said he was “delighted” by the Government’s commitment to partner with ‘upper tier’ authorities, which include Hertfordshire, to deliver new devolved powers and growth. He has already responded to Ms Rayner, signalling his willingness to work together.

In his response, he highlighted Hertfordshire’s economy as “a larger economy than many major cities and city regions”.

He pointed to the county’s “strong track record in innovation”, with world-leading economic clusters, including “Europe’s top cell and gene cluster”.

Cllr Roberts suggested the benefits of devolution in Hertfordshire would be felt not only within the county but more widely too.

“Through a strong devolution deal, your Government could enable us to boost productivity and improve living standards through access to good jobs, skills and getting high-quality, sustainable housing growth in the right places,” he said.

“This acceleration of growth and economy in our region would not only benefit Hertfordshire residents but would serve to support a more prosperous national economy that all residents would benefit from.”

Cllr Roberts ended by suggesting he “eagerly” awaited the new devolution framework and was ready “to discuss the opportunities available to Hertfordshire to deliver good growth for our residents and businesses”.

In a statement, he added: “We are an ambitious county and, as leader of the county council, I want to work closely with Government to understand how a strong devolution deal for Hertfordshire could enable us to boost productivity and improve living standards through access to good jobs [and] skills while delivering high-quality, sustainable housing growth in the right places.”

In her letter to council leaders, Ms Rayner, who is also Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pointed to the benefits of devolution.

She said she had seen the benefits of better-integrated transport, publicly controlled buses, new skills programmes and good affordable housing projects.

She said devolution underpinned the national mission “to deliver economic growth for everyone, everywhere, raising living standards across the UK”.