Lancashire will have an elected mayor by May 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner indicates

The ‘will-they-won’t-they’ political saga seemingly ended not with a choreographed announcement - but in an aside during a question and answer session at the Convention of the North, which has been staged in Preston over the last two days.

Asked how neighbouring Cumbria - also currently minus a mayor - could ensure that it was part of “the conversation” about the North’s future, Ms. Rayner said she understood “the perception" that places without an Andy Burnham-style figurehead may feel left out.

She then declared: “I've been really straight that we want mayors - and with the new [devolution] priority programme, by May 2026, the whole of the North will have mayors, which is fantastic.”

That will have come as news to Lancashire local authority leaders who had previously been asked only to come up with proposals for “deeper and wider devolution” by this autumn, following on from the deal struck with the previous Conservative government and subsequently implemented by the new Labour administration last September.

The unspoken, but heavy hint within that request was that the government wanted to see Lancashire go down the mayoral route - but until yesterday, it had nevertheless been presented as a choice.

Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) whether his boss’s comments had just removed that choice - over what has long been a politically divisive subject in the county - devolution minister Jim McMahon said: “We’re very clear about the direction of travel - we were clear in our manifesto, we’re clear in the English devolution white paper [and] we’ve been clear in all the discussions that we've had.

“But I also think that leaders here in Lancashire have been clear, too - which is that they don't want to be second place to Liverpool, to Greater Manchester [and] other places that are realising the true benefits of devolution.

“I think for far too long the potential people - particularly young people - [have] here in Lancashire...hasn’t always been met by opportunity. And what devolution does is to give local leaders that power.”

Pressed on whether that meant a mayor would be installed in Lancashire “regardless” of what those local leaders felt about it, he added: “It’s certainly not regardless, because this is a partnership. I think the days of central government command and control are gone.”

However, he stressed that the government had never hidden its pursuit of the mayoral model - and questioned why Lancashire would choose anything else.

Citing a recent settlement with Greater Manchester, which handed the area £1bn with no strings attached about how to spend it, Mr. McMahon said: “Why would Lancashire want to wait for government to turn up and give individual grants out…when we can give them complete control over large parts of public expenditure in their area?

“They know what’s right for their area, it's time to give them the powers to do that.

“It also recognises that the state of play hasn’t worked for Lancashire, whatever government is in place. The idea that we can pull a leaver from Whitehall and affect change in every community across the county…is ridiculous, it just doesn't happen.”

“It’s about giving local leaders the power to get on and do the job and a mayor is really important in that - they do make a difference.”

The devolution white paper, published just two months ago, states that it is the government’s “strong preference” that local areas opt for mayor if they do not already have one - but it does at least hold out the alternative prospect of a non-mayoral “strategic authority”, like the Lancashire Combined County Authority (CCA) that came into being earlier this month to oversee its existing devolution deal.

That 'level 2' agreement gives Lancashire powers including control of the adult education budget and some aspects of local transport, as well as a one-of £20m innovation fund. However, a top-grade 'level 3' deal would see the creation of a long-term investment cash pot, with an agreed annual allocation, along with a say over local rail and greater control over brownfield regeneration.

Turbulence could now lie in Lancashire ahead following the seeming shift in the government’s stance from one of cajoling to commanding.

Apart from a brief agreement between local leaders five years ago that Lancashire would accept a mayor with “limited powers”, there has never been a consensus on the subject across the county.

The leaders of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen councils Lynn Williams and Phil Riley - two of the three current devolution deal signatories - have previously expressed hope and confidence that Lancashire would end up part of the government's devolution priority programme of places where mayors will be in place by next May. That hope now appears to have been well founded, with the Deputy PM only hitherto having gone as far as saying the county’s fresh proposals would be considered “in parallel” with those on the accelerated timetable

Lancashire County Council leader Phillippa Williamson - the other devolution partner - has previously stressed the lack of local agreement over a mayor, but not ventured a particular preference on behalf of her own authority.

However, district council leaders are openly split over the issue - with the likes of Chorley’s Alistair Bradley and Preston’s Matthew Brown having come out in favour, but others including Wyre leader Michael Vincent and Ribble Valley’s Stephen Atkinson staunchly against.

The issue is also now bound up with the equally thorny subject of local government reorganisation - a requirement for all so-called two-tier areas like Lancashire to abolish the councils operating in their area and replace them with a much smaller number of replacements. Initial local proposals for how that should look have been requested by the government by 21st March.

Responding to the Deputy PM’s categorical statement over mayors – while standing surrounded by high-profile examples of them at the convention’s press conference - Lancashire County Council’s Conservative cabinet member for economic development and growth Aidy Riggott acknowledged to the LDRS that Lancashire "rarely agrees with itself” on the matter.

However, he added: “We’ve got to where we've got to by building trust and collaboration across part[ies], across councils and with wider stakeholders. That has enabled us to move forward with the deal that we’ve now secured - and I think as long as Lancashire is afforded the space to continue to have those conversations, have that space [and] have that time, we will see where that journey takes us.

“I’m sure the government will be ready for us when we get to that point - whether that is in May next year or at a later date, I think we’re all working to the same agenda.

“Our focus remains still on delivering for our businesses, our places [ad] our people.”

South Ribble MP Paul Foster - one of 10 Labour MPs in Lancashire to sign a letter to Jim McMahon last November, revealed by the LDRS, calling for a mayor in the county on a May 2026 timetable - said he was delighted “to hear the Deputy PM reconfirm what everyone in Lancashire wants”.

“We so desperately need to get on the devolution agenda and bring the huge amount of investment and opportunity to Lancashire that it so needs,” he added.

‘The North has the answer’

The sixth Convention of the North saw hundreds of delegates at both County Hall on Thursday and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAn) on Friday to discuss the future of the North of England - chewing over challenges and opportunities.

Hosted by Preston-born Good Morning Britain journalist Ranvir Singh, it set out five “game changers” for the pan-region - including making it a leader in clean energy, ensuring it has a well-connected railway and developing as a centre of excellence for artificial intelligence.

At the opening of the conference, Ranvir - UCLan's Chancellor and a former student of the university - warned that the next general election would probably be set against a "divisive" backdrop, “based on…a sense of despair and disillusionment, particularly amongst the young, that this country isn’t working for them”.

“And if we do want to bring a sense of cohesion and possibility and ambition and belief back to those people in particular, but indeed to all of us, it will be engineered here in the North,” the former North West Tonight presenter added.

Guests were flanked on stage by examples of Lancashire’s engineering prowess, including a bike ridden by Olympic Gold-winning Sir Bradley Wiggins.