The Manchester mayor's power, explained

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What's the story?

He’s the current Mayor of Greater Manchester and a former health secretary, but Andy Burnham’s dogged defence of his city has earned him a new title: “King of the North”.

As the Government attempted to move Manchester into the toughest Tier 3 restrictions over the past week, the parka-wearing politician stood firm and insisted his city would not be treated like a “sacrificial lamb” and a “canary in the coal mine”.

In striving to secure additional funding for low paid workers hit by the local lockdown, Mr Burnham has earned the grudging respect of more than a few Tory backbenchers and slashed his odds of becoming the next Labour leader.

Eventually, the meetings ended in deadlock and Boris Johnson moved to wrench the city into the toughest restrictions without an agreement on Tuesday.

He told a press conference: "I do regret this. As I said last week, we would have a better chance of defeating the virus if we work together.”

The Government had initially made an offer of £60 million for Greater Manchester, but then it appeared the money had been significantly reduced when talks dissolved.

A furious blame game erupted after Government sources claimed Mr Burnham had insisted he wanted more money than Lancashire and Merseyside, the other two areas already under Tier 3.

Despite the suggestion the Government would slash the support to £22 million, Mr Johnson confirmed on Wednesday that the original £60 million figure would still be honoured.

Mr Burnham said he had "no regrets for taking a stand".

"This wasn't a negotiation, this was basically bulldozed through and we took a stand," the Greater Manchester mayor said.

Whatever the truth, Mr Burnham has certainly caused the Government quite a headache in recent days – but just how far do his powers go?

He is one of eight metro mayors, who together represent a population of 11.9 million people in England.

They are all directly elected leaders of a combined authority, and due to the high profile nature of the job many have previously served in Parliament.

The mayors chair a cabinet of the leaders of combined authority councils. They have particular powers over transport, skills training and economic development, but some have a remit that goes even further.

In Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham has powers over housing construction, health and social care integration and developed responsibility for police and crime.

The latter could yet be a stumbling block for the Government. Greater Manchester Police answer to Mr Burnham, throwing the enforcement of new Covid-19 restrictions into doubt.

Looking back

Elected mayors were one of Tony Blair's pet projects when Labour came to office in 1997 and his government soon passed legislation to allow referendums on whether areas wanted one.

Initially, the idea didn’t exactly take off. Turnout for the elections was generally low and the answer was mostly “no”.

Of the first batch of elected mayors in 2001, the one with the highest profile was perhaps Hartlepool’s Stuart Drummond, a call-centre worker who was best known for being the local football club’s monkey mascot.

Now mayors include former MPs and captains of industry. Former John Lewis boss Andy Street became the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands in 2017.

After David Cameron’s coalition came to power in 2010, the government gave the 12 largest cities in England the option of a mayor.

In their latest incarnation, elected mayors are promoted as representatives who push the cause of a larger area, the so-called “metro mayors”.

The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act, which became law in early 2016, states that in order for a combined authority to be given these powers, a metro mayor must be elected for the area.

The eight current combined authorities are made up of 44 local authorities. The structure is very different to that of the Mayor of London.

This role was created under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 as part of the Labour government's commitment to restore a city-wide government for London.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) comprises a directly elected Mayor and a separately elected London Assembly consisting of 25 members.

Anything else I need to know?

Despite the recent wranglings, ministers had been planning a huge shake-up of local Government which aimed to increase the number of mayors in England.

However, an anticipated white paper on devolution and local recovery, which was expected to be released in September, has been shelved until next year as the Government prioritises battling coronavirus.

The initial plan was to create more unitary authorities from the current overlapping system of county and district councils.

The intention was for the new authorities to receive fresh powers and funding if they agreed to form cross-boundary “combined authorities” with directly elected mayors.

Some areas, including Cumbria, Greater Lincolnshire and Somerset, had already submitted plans to create combined authorities and mayors but these are now in limbo.

Mr Jenrick previously said the white paper would set out “ambitious plans for more mayors, greater powers and financial incentives to be given to local councils who embrace reform, and set out the important role we want local councils to play in economic growth in the future".

The Refresher take

It’s inarguable that Britain had, for many decades, become an over-centralised economy.

London sucked the talent and cash from the regions, who had no powerful, unified political voice.

The Covid crisis has pitched these regional fiefdoms onto the national stage and in doing so has underscored the system’s weakness.

We’ve witnessed the unedifying spectacle of Liverpool and Manchester’s mayors in a bidding war for cash when surely they would have been more effective fighting for a common cause as a region.

The Government’s plans to overhaul the system has, for now, been put on ice. Voters living in underrepresented regions may be missing the shrill call of a man like Mr Burnham fighting their corner.