Tracy Brabin, the Labour mayor of West Yorkshire, said that giving regions like hers a proportion of income tax would mean “people will be able to see and feel the real benefit of their hard work and where that money is going”.
Richard Parker, the Labour mayor for the West Midlands, described the plans as “phenomenal”, adding: “It really is a sea change, it’s monumental.”
But some within the Labour Party have voiced concerns.
Labour backbencher Sean Woodcock, MP for Banbury in Oxfordshire, said he supported the plans but said there was still the need for redistribution from central government in order to help poorer areas.
“If you want to close the gap between the areas that are affluent with the ones that are less so, the ones that are less so need more support, more help, and that means redistribution, frankly, from the centre,” he told BBC Radio Oxford.
“That’s not part of the package that’s been announced. In fact, some grants have been talked about being got rid of.
“While this does have the potential to benefit a number of areas, frankly a lot of areas will see minimal benefit.”
Perran Moon, MP for Camborne and Redruth in Cornwall, told the BBC the government’s plans were “discriminatory” and could create a “two-tier system”.
He said his area would never have a mayor or become a combined authority and so risked not having access to devolved powers that other areas would have.
“What we’re asking government to do is to provide us with the same powers, the same funding that mayoral combined authorities have without the requirement of becoming a combined authority or having a mayor.”
Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said Burnham’s announcement was “very short on the detail” with “no new money being announced”, which could mean areas with weaker local economies could end up losing out.
The Liberal Democrats warned the plans risked “creating a postcode lottery” that would leave millions of people living in rural areas “short-changed and underfunded”.
Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said the prime minister should “fully devolve the power to stop the housing of illegal migrants in local communities by the Home Office”.
