Getting Lancashire a mayor is ‘a priority for Andy Burnham’, Blackpool leader told - as £1bn fund mooted

Lancashire has been told that securing an elected mayor for the county is “a priority” for the Prime Minister and could come with a £1bn funding commitment, The Gazette can reveal.

The message was delivered during a long-awaited meeting between the government and the leaders of Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council, who collectively also head the Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) devolution body.

It took place on Tuesday when devolution minister Jim McMahon MP visited County Hall for a gathering that had first been requested by the trio last December - and twice since cancelled by one of the minister’s predecessors.

The meeting was originally sought to elicit a government response to a list of demands on which Lancashire had previously indicated its support for a shift to a mayor-led devolution model would depend.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Phil Riley told the Gazette that, during the discussion, Mr. McMahon stressed that “getting Lancashire into mayoral devolution was a priority, not just for him, but for Andy [Burnham]”.

The Gazette also understands that the minister indicated he would expect Lancashire to receive a cash sum - to go with the devolved powers conferred on a mayor - that would be equivalent to similar-sized counties that have already done a deal.

An approximate figure of £35m a year over 30 years - just over a £1bn in total - was mooted, although Mr. McMahon emphasised he was unable to make a formal commitment on behalf of the Treasury by pre-agreeing any precise amounts.

The issue of funding had been one of the key matters on which the LCCA had sought clarification in a letter sent to the government shortly before last Christmas. The authority had said its willingness to “engage positively and explore the principle of mayoral devolution” was based on an assumption that the county would be handed "circa £36m” - putting it in the gold standard bracket of devolution deals.

The Prime Minister has made no secret of the fact that he wants to see more ‘metro mayors’ rolled out nationwide, flying the flag for their areas just as he was able to when he held the position in Greater Manchester.

However, Lancashire has had a historically ambivalent relationship with the prospect of installing a mayoral figurehead - and its 15 main council leaders have rarely found themselves on the same page over the subject despite a decade of internal debate.

It was for that reason the three so-called ‘top-tier’ authorities that now make up the LCCA agreed a mayor-free devolution deal with the last Conservative government back in 2023 - eschewing the greater powers and financial rewards that would have come with a mayoral arrangement.

The agreement was rubber-stamped by the incoming Labour government in September 2024. However, at the time, Jim McMahon - when he previously held the devolution minister post before being briefly reshuffled out of the role - invited Lancashire to bring forward proposals for a “deeper” deal within the next 12 months.

That was widely interpreted as code for agreeing to elect a mayor - and sparked an LCCA-led review to assess whether and how the county would benefit from such a move.

It was the outcome of that process that resulted in the correspondence that was sent to the government last December from the LCCA’s top table - the Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council, Stephen Atkinson, Labour’s Cllr Riley, and the Labour leader of Blackpool Council, Lynn Williams.

While the latter two political bedfellows had already indicated their support for a mayor, County Cllr Atkinson had been equally candid regarding his scepticism about the role and what he saw as its capacity to centralise decision-making rather than truly empower local areas.

Together, in their letter to Jim McMahon’s then replacement, Miatta Fahnbulleh, they requested clarification not only on the level of funding that would be on offer, but whether the county could be allocated half of it in advance of a mayor being put in place - an issue which The Gazette understands remains outstanding.

That request revolved around the timing of a mayoral election, with the government previously having said that it should only follow a major streamlining of the local authority landscape in Lancashire which will see the total number of councils cut from 15 to just four.

The process had been due to be completed in April 2028, paving the way for a mayor to be elected the following month. However, the council overhaul has been delayed - for at least a year - by legal issues, putting a question mark over whether a mayor could now be installed prior to the broader local government changes being finalised. Either way, The Gazette understands that bringing a mayoral election forward to May 2027 - as has been called for by the Progressive Lancashire main opposition group at County Hall - is considered unlikely.

Meanwhile, County Cllr Atkinson’s often stated preference for a legally binding referendum - previously refused by the government - is also understood to remain off the table.

Speaking to The Gazette after this week's meeting, he said the issue of a mayor will be “subject to widespread consultation and will require public agreement”.

He added: “We're going to work constructively to see what the offer [from the government] is.”

County Cllr Atkinson has previously stressed that Lancashire should be fully aware of the deal it would be signing up to when electing a mayor- and not just presume it would receive the same suite of benefits that had been given to other areas. He also noted at an LCCA meeting earlier this month that the Liverpool City Region - which has had an elected mayor for almost a decade - has a “similar” growth rate to that of Lancashire.

In contrast, however, Cllr Riley once again drew attention to the fact that as of next May, Lancashire will become the only place in the North of England without an elected mayor.

He said: “In Blackburn with Darwen, we are absolutely clear that that is just not a situation the county should be in - and so we just simply have to find ways of accepting the information that has been given to us by the minister and moving forward to get on the pathway to a mayoral authority.”

Cllr Williams was also approached for comment.

In a joint statement Cllrs Atkinson, Riley and Williams said: “We were pleased to host the Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Regional Growth, particularly given his strong understanding of Lancashire and the opportunities and challenges facing the county.

"The meeting was a positive and constructive discussion which has helped inform ongoing conversations about the future of devolution to a mayoral authority in Lancashire.

“The minister provided further information for leaders to consider, including the potential opportunities [and] financial advantages that could come through a mayoral combined authority model and how these could support Lancashire's ambitions for growth, investment and public services.

"We will now take time to consider the information provided and discuss any potential next steps. Any proposal would need to be approved by each of the constituent councils and the Lancashire Combined County Authority before being formally submitted to government."

The Gazette also approached the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication.