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Labor leader Sir Keir Starr will set out plans on Monday to devolve economic powers and create a series of growth “clusters”, as part of the “biggest transfer of power from Westminster to the British people”.
Starmer will make the pledge at the launch of a report led by former Labor prime minister Gordon Brown into Britain’s constitution, which has made 40 recommendations, including overhauling the House of Lords.
Reforming the second chamber is a complex task that has defeated previous prime ministers and Starmer will instead focus on proposals to devolve economic power to local councils and business.
The Brown report calls for the creation of hundreds of “clusters” of economic activity in cities and towns across the UK, building on local strengths and bringing together civic and business leaders.
“The center has not delivered,” Starmer will say at the launch of a report looking at the UK’s future in Leeds. “We have an unbalanced economy that uses too little of the talent of too few people in too few places.”
The Brown Commission proposes to give more power over skills, transport, planning and culture to local communities, including elected mayors, councils, employers and unions.
The Center for Cities think-tank has identified 300 embryonic clusters that can be developed focusing on areas such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing, green technology and digital services.
The report proposes the development of powers in areas including transport and infrastructure, giving councils powers to compulsory purchase vacant land and creating a new regionally focused investment bank.
Powers over economic development, job creation and the provision of services through job centers should also be devolved, Brown would propose.
Starmer, a Remainer who once campaigned for a second Brexit referendum, will claim that devolution answers some of the concerns expressed by people when they voted to leave the EU in 2016.
“During the Brexit referendum I argued for Remain but I did not disagree with the basic case that many voters made me Leave,” Starmer will say.
“They wanted democratic control over their lives so they could provide opportunities for the next generation, build communities they could be proud of and public services they could trust.”
Starmer will argue that those who voted for Scottish independence in 2014 did so for a similar reason because the Westminster system seemed “remote”.
Labor leader Brown to announce consultation on all proposals of report; The exercise will determine who among them will be given a place in the party’s election manifesto.
Replacing the unelected and bloated House of Lords, which has around 800 members, is a key part of the Brown report, but Starmer has been reluctant to commit to making it a first-term Labor priority.
Starmer backs the idea of an elected second chamber and told Labor colleagues last month that reforming it was vital to restoring public confidence in government. He said former prime minister Boris Johnson had appointed “deficits and donors” to sit on the red benches.
But attempts by David Cameron’s coalition government to reform the upper house – championed by then-Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg – were thwarted by opposition from peers and Tory MPs.
Starmer declined to say in a Sunday Times interview whether the Lords reforms would be a priority for Labour’s first term. “Of course that raises questions of enforcement,” he said. “I’m not ashamed of it.”
The final content of the Brown report has been the subject of horse-trading throughout the summer, delaying its publication for several months.
The report is expected to scrap wider fiscal devolution, which would give cities and regions outside London the power to raise more taxes. However, it will recommend a review of Scotland’s borrowing powers.
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