Burnham Gives Mayors Income Tax Powers — But Nobody Knows the Numbers Yet
Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for ten days. On day ten, he's announced the biggest shift in English local funding in a generation. Regional mayors will — for the first time — receive a share of income tax revenues raised in their areas. Income tax retention kicks in from 2028. A bigger slice of business rates follows from April 2027. IPPR North called it "the most significant shift in how England is funded in a generation." That's not nothing.
But here's the problem: nobody knows what any mayor is actually getting. Chancellor John Healey is keeping the exact figures until his autumn Budget. A White Paper lands then too. So right now, this is a structural promise with no price tag attached. It's a headline without the article.
What This Actually Is — And What It Isn't
Let's be clear on something. This money doesn't appear from nowhere. These new income tax and business rate revenues replace existing ringfenced grants. Mayors aren't getting a windfall. They're getting flexibility over money that was already flowing their way, just controlled from Westminster. That's still significant. Control matters. But it's not a budget injection.
Your income tax rate doesn't change either. Residents in Greater Manchester, London, or West Yorkshire won't pay more. Mayors just get to retain a proportion of what's already collected locally. The principle is straightforward: the money generated in your region stays closer to your region.
That's the theory Burnham has been running in Greater Manchester since 2017. The Bee Network — integrating buses, trams, and cycling into a single system — is the proof of concept. His entire ideology, what No. 10 is now calling "Manchesterism," is built on channelling growth back into communities rather than letting it pool at the centre. He's now trying to export that model nationally.
The Inequality Problem Is Real and Immediate
Think tank Re:State has already done the maths. At a 2.5p-in-the-pound share, London would receive £2.3 billion. Hull and East Yorkshire would receive £135 million. That gap isn't a rounding error. It reflects the fact that income tax retention rewards wealth where wealth already exists. Richer areas generate more income tax. Their mayors collect more. Poorer areas trail behind structurally, not because of anything they've done wrong.
This is the "two-tier England" concern, and it's legitimate. Areas without a mayoral authority don't get access to this mechanism at all. They sit outside the model entirely. That's a significant portion of the country being left on the wrong side of this reform — at least for now.
Cleverly's Attack Has a Point, Even If It's Politically Convenient
Shadow local government secretary Sir James Cleverly called this "top-down Manchesterism" that offers "no guarantee of better outcomes." The framing is obviously partisan. But the substance isn't entirely wrong. Devolving financial power without publishing the numbers, the framework, or the accountability structures isn't devolution — it's a sketch of devolution. The White Paper in autumn will determine whether this is genuine structural change or a rebranding exercise.
The criticism carries more weight because of the timing. Burnham has announced the principle with full fanfare. The mechanics — how much, distributed how, governed by what criteria — come later. That sequence invites scepticism. It's not dishonest. But it's not complete either.
Our Verdict
This is a real move. The direction is clear: tax revenues raised locally should be spent locally, with mayors accountable to the people who elected them rather than to ministers in Westminster. The logic holds. The inequality risk is genuine and needs addressing before 2028, not after. And the autumn Budget will tell us whether the numbers actually back the ambition.
Right now, we've got the boldest opening statement of Burnham's premiership. We're waiting to find out if there's a plan behind it.
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Image via [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Burnham) / Wikimedia Commons