Chancellor John Healey will use next week's Budget to hand mayors in England new funding and powers, including a 1.5 billion pound borrowing facility, as part of plans to move economic decision-making out of Westminster. Reuters reported the measures on 24 October ahead of Wednesday's Budget, citing the finance ministry. The package also includes 285 million pounds of Good Growth seed funding for next year.

An end to cap in hand

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was calling time on local leaders going "cap in hand to Westminster", arguing that is no way to run a country. The Good Growth funding is designed to reduce reliance on fragmented bidding pots from central government, and can be used for housing, regenerating high streets and improving transport links. The government will work with mayors over the next two years to design the borrowing facility, which it said would give them access to capital to back local growth projects. Strategic authorities will receive a further 150 million pounds next year to build up staff and expertise as they take on bigger budgets.

What it means for local growth

The shift matters because it changes who decides where growth money goes. Instead of competing for small, ring-fenced pots from Whitehall, mayors would hold multi-year funding and borrowing capacity to plan housing, transport and regeneration together. Supporters say that should speed up delivery and reflect local priorities; critics will watch whether the borrowing adds to public debt and whether smaller authorities without mayoral deals miss out. The full terms, including how the facility is governed and what it can be spent on, will be set out in the Budget itself, and DailyByte will report the confirmed details rather than treating pre-Budget briefings as final.