'Glasgow must be given the same resources as English city regions'

Glasgow Times

18 hours ago

City regions across these islands – and indeed across our planet – are vital drivers of growth and addressing poverty and inequalities.
Glasgow is no exception.
In a relatively short space of time, and during some very difficult years, our own City Region has been delivering exactly the types of benefits that people want to see.
The City Deal, for example, is transforming not just the look and feel of communities with new bridges and new neighbourhoods but also our very economy.
We're right up there with Europe's best for science and technology while creating more employment opportunities for ordinary citizens.
Meanwhile, the partnerships between the eight member councils, businesses, and academia are helping ensure Glasgow actually outperforms those UK city regions we're regularly compared to.
For example, the total value of what our economy produces here in Metropolitan Glasgow has recently been higher than either the West Midlands or Greater Manchester.
At the same time, levels of child poverty and unemployment are lower.
We're clearly doing a lot of things right.
As chair of the cross-party Glasgow City Region Cabinet, I've always been clear that to take our ambitions to the next level we need more powers and more resources.
And that has to come from both the Scottish and UK Governments.
So, I was obviously delighted when, at our annual State of the City Economy Conference in December, Scottish and UK ministers pledged to work together with us to drive those ambitions forward.
However, over the past month, many of us within these partnerships have become increasingly disappointed with what's emerging from the UK Government.
I'll be the first to say that my party colleagues at Holyrood really do have to get a move on delivering on their promises to better empower Glasgow.
But what's emerging from Westminster looks increasingly like a rollback.
And if that's the case, Glasgow and our fellow City Region authorities will start to fall behind our peers south of the border.
The UK Government's Spending Review made clear the gulf in how Scottish and English city regions are resourced.
Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, and several others are provided with large integrated settlements with which they can make their own investment decisions.
Yet Glasgow is reduced to administering UK Government programmes.
That makes it extremely difficult to grow our economy in the ways we know we can – and must.
Now, Scotland's Secretary of State, Ian Murray, and his colleague, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, both insist that the UK Government has no role in delivering for Glasgow the type of devolution deal awarded for our English City Region comparators.
It is certainly the case that the vast majority of the powers we seek are in the gift of the Scottish Government.
However, devolving powers without the accompanying funding to match would be almost meaningless.
The Glasgow City Region partners are clear that we require integrated funding deals, equivalent to those being delivered to our English peers.
Those deals have not generated the all-important Barnett consequentials, meaning no equivalent funding has ever been provided to the Scottish Government.
It's clear then that the funding for a devolution deal for the Glasgow City Region remains the responsibility of the UK Government.
Crucially, the Core Cities Group, which represents the 12 biggest cities outside London and which Glasgow is part of, has collectively called on the UK Government to provide parity of funding support for the city regions in the devolved nations.
And it too believes that the Spending Review was a missed opportunity to begin to address the inequities between English city regions and Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast.
If the UK Government wants to properly address the very poor growth figures undermining its own economic mission, then it needs to reconsider how it funds city regions in the devolved nations.
The Secretary of State for Scotland has asked that I join him in writing to the First Minister in demanding the Scottish Government gives the Glasgow City Region the powers it's been asking for.
I'm happy to do that.
But a joint letter also needs to go to the UK Prime Minister and Chancellor demanding parity with our English peers.
Glasgow needs both of our governments to step up to devolution.