Building trust, capacity and accountability in England's strategic authorities

You would be hard-pressed to have missed the media frenzy surrounding Andy Burnham's much-anticipated bid to be Prime Minister or, indeed, to have missed much of the back-and-forth between Sir Sadiq Khan and various representative members of the British and American right wing.You might even recall the clamour(s) concerning Luke Campbell's recent career pivot, Andrea Jenkyn's notable musical performance, or the scrutiny Ben Houchen faced over a now closed corruption inquiry regarding the Teesworks development site.The role, duties and political responsibilities of the directly-elected mayor have, perhaps, never enjoyed more of the limelight than in the past two years. It has also never been more clear how far the element of the personality can make or break, a candidate's success in both election and effectiveness once in post.With the potential for much-deepened fiscal devolution on the horizon, as floated by chancellor Rachel Reeves at the 2026 Mais Lecture and much-applauded by all those who are well aware that devolution without fiscal decentralisation is a bit of a moot point, now is very much the time for strategic authorities to evidence that they are prepared for this next step.There are two interdependent reasons that England appears to be enjoying an age of mayoral enlightenment. The first is that the passing of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (EDCE) means that English mayors now have some real authority over their regions without the traditional looming oversight of Whitehall taking precedence.Although it is very unlikely that any of England's mayors are about to transform the western political canon in the manner of Hobbes, Locke, or any other big names of the more well-known Enlightenment, there are now fewer obstacles for incremental innovation among England's newly dubbed strategic authorities.‘Cogito ergo sum', wrote Descartes, transforming the very foundations of the Western philosophical tradition. ‘With greater power comes greater responsibility', wrote Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool City Region, referencing both his future use of the Integrated Settlement funding model – representative of the significantly enhanced financial autonomy that strategic authorities are expected to receive – and Marvel's Spider-Man in one fell swoop.Correspondingly, not only will our existing mayors become more powerful, but there will also be many more of them, fitting into a nicely stratified hierarchy in accordance with the EDCE Act.The mayoral model is, apparently, the zeitgeist of 21st century England. Rotheram is correct to note the need for responsibility among the holders of the strategic mayoralties, as they assume positions of increasingly significant national political influence.With the potential for much-deepened fiscal devolution on the horizon, as floated by chancellor Rachel Reeves at the 2026 Mais Lecture and much-applauded by all those who are well aware that devolution without fiscal decentralisation is a bit of a moot point, now is very much the time for strategic authorities to evidence that they are prepared for this next step.Greater Manchester has made a famously good start to strategic proceedings, enjoying something of a renaissance of economic growth over the past decade or so, but other regional authorities are setting out with understandably more trepidation.Using Greater Manchester as a model for development is all well and good for regions that are similar enough to this area, but what about the regions that are not defined by a single urban centre and its peripheries? What about those whose history of strategic delivery cannot be predicated on the work of an existing Association of Greater Manchester Authorities? Are they certain to offer their regions the success of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) within a framework increasingly modelled on the GMCA?The Government's solution, only extending the most significant powers to ‘established' strategic authorities' – a position that requires a directly-elected mayor – is one that does put in mind the age-old question of the chicken and the egg: powers and resources are only granted if government believes an authority has the existing capacity to manage them, a capacity which is itself reliant on sufficient resources.If we are to follow the logic of Enlightenment thinker, Denis Diderot, we arrive at a fairly amenable conclusion: we must not suppose that the chicken has always been what we consider a chicken to be, nor, to extrapolate, that a tradition of strategic governance over coterminous service delivery boundaries automatically heralds best practice among strategic authorities – or vice versa.Strategic delivery is more complex than the question of ‘how established is this authority?' can answer.The phrase ‘who watches the watchmen' is particularly apt in this instance. Trust in mayors and trust in strategic authorities among both the public and central government will absolutely predicate the widespread regional growth that England has been promised. As such, a minimum standard for strategic authority scrutiny must be reached and maintained as more resources get distributed to the regions.Likewise, devolution needs to work beyond the traditional metro mayoral model: a coherent national model that supports urban-rural networks, stronger peripheral connectivity, and collaboration across wider regional economies is an absolute must.Think-tank Localis' new report, Everything in its right place, proposes these changes, among others, to address the complexities in the evolution of strategic authorities – changes which are absolutely crucial if policy is to respond to this newly-enlightened world of genuine regional autonomy in which strong personalities reign and where a fine balance must be struck between the trust of government and the opportunity of direct action by the regions.Sandy Forsyth is senior researcher at Localis

Title

DEVOLUTION

Building trust, capacity and accountability in England's strategic authorities

By Sandy Forsyth | 04 June 2026

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