Member

On ministerial powers of direction, the Government’s clear policy and established practice is to work with local leaders to develop devolution proposals that command broad support from local areas. Our commitment not to commence the powers for a period of time following Royal Assent will provide sufficient time for areas that do not yet have devolution agreements to develop workable proposals. We will also remove the ability for the Secretary of State to provide directly for a mayor in an area without local consent. This strikes an important balance: it maintains the ability to secure access to devolution as a last resort while ensuring that decisions about adopting a mayoral model within existing non-mayoral authorities are made locally at the point they consider is right for their area.