00:00Expecting the devolution power from Andy Burnham on Friday, there's been some trails that perhaps
00:04metro mayors like yourself are going to be getting a share of income tax. What do you
00:10think about the plan? Are you excited about what's going to happen?
00:13Well, I was with Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, on Friday and I don't want to tell enough
00:18of a breach in an embargo, but I'm really excited about the direction of travel from
00:21the new Prime Minister. He's building the progress made by Ciara Starmer. I think Andy
00:26has experienced the frustration when mayors like him, me and others, know our community
00:31is best, but rather than us deciding what's best for our community, civil servants and
00:35whites or nothing against them, I decided what's best for our communities. And by devolving
00:39powers and resources, I think we can do better. We contribute as a city four pounds out of
00:44every ten pounds the government raises. We could contribute even more with the right powers
00:49and resources, but also if we had more growth, if we created more wealth, we could probably
00:55keep more as well, which is really important because that could be a virtuous circle whereby
00:59we're doing better and as a consequence, the government receives more fruits of our hard
01:03labour. So you don't think Andy Burnham is anti-London in any way?
01:06Well, I've seen no evidence of Andy being anti-London since he's been Prime Minister.
01:11I've had many conversations with him shortly before and since he's been Prime Minister and
01:16I'm really hopeful that just like other parts of the country, including Scotland and Wales
01:20Northern Ireland should get more devolution, more powers and resources devolved, so will London.
Comments