Labour will ensure local decisions taken by those ‘with skin in the game’

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said her party will give people a ‘bigger stake’ in the future of their area.

Angela Rayner will declare that devolution legislation will be in the first King’s Speech of a Sir Keir Starmer Labour government (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

(PA Wire)

A Labour government will ensure that community decisions are taken by “people with skin in the game”, according to the party’s deputy leader.

Angela Rayner is expected to use a speech on Tuesday to pledge that a Sir Keir Starmer premiership will give local people a “bigger stake” in the future of their cities, towns and neighbourhoods.

She will reiterate that new legislation promising more devolved powers from Westminster will feature in the first King’s Speech of a new Labour administration.

Labour leader Sir Keir has previously dubbed it his Take Back Control Bill, borrowing the Leave campaign’s Brexit referendum slogan.

Ms Rayner’s speech to the Local Government Association (LGA) conference in Bournemouth comes just months after Labour became the largest party at council-level in England in May.

Labour officials briefed that the party’s plan is to deliver “genuine devolution” in its first term in office, giving communities “control over their own destiny.”

We say the decisions that create wealth in our communities — economic wealth and civic wealth — should be taken by local people with skin in the game

Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader

Ms Rayner is set to tell the LGA conference: “Let’s give people control, and the chance to direct their community.

“Let’s give them a bigger stake in the future of their town, their city, and their county.

“We have a politics that hoards power and an economy that hoards potential. That isn’t a coincidence, it’s an inevitable consequence.

“It’s a toxic, mutual dependency that feeds off the other, holding our country back.

“Well, no more. The Labour argument is simple — and it’s winning.

“We say the decisions that create wealth in our communities — economic wealth and civic wealth — should be taken by local people with skin in the game.

“That’s our promise, and we will deliver it with a Bill in the first King’s Speech of the next Labour government.”

The deputy Opposition leader will also argue that insecurity being witnessed during the current cost-of-living crisis and the “total collapse of housebuilding” under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration is the “enemy of opportunity”.

She will herald May’s local election results producing 22 new Labour-led councils and more than 500 new councillors as an “emotional moment” for her party.

Ms Rayner will declare it a “new era” for Labour in local government as Sir Keir’s party looks to build on its successes at council-level during a likely general election next year.

A Conservative spokesman responded: “This speech shows how two-faced Starmer’s Labour are – they’ll say literally anything if the politics suits them.

“One week they’re threatening to overrule local people, concreting over their precious Green Belt – now suddenly they pretend to care about devolving power to local people.

“It’s nothing but political opportunism.”

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is also expected to address the LGA conference on Tuesday.