A new chapter for the Liverpool City Region
Steve Rotheram, Mayor
| Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Steve Rotherham, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, sets out why the Integrated Settlement is a vote of confidence in the city region's future, and how this funding model puts power and trust back into local hands
For too long, decisions about our region were made by people in Westminster who didn’t live here, didn’t work here, and didn’t understand our communities. But over the past decade, the Liverpool City Region has been rewriting that story – building a new model of local leadership rooted in collaboration, ambition and delivery.
Now, with the introduction of an Integrated Settlement, we are entering the next chapter of that journey. And it promises to be transformative.
So, what is an Integrated Settlement? In simple terms, it’s a new way of funding and empowering Mayoral Strategic Authorities like ours. Instead of small, piecemeal pots of money handed down from Whitehall with strings attached, it pulls those funding streams together into a single, flexible package. That means greater certainty, more autonomy and the ability to plan long-term – just as government departments do.
It might sound like little more than a technical change, but it actually represents a fundamental shift in how power is distributed in this country.
And the Liverpool City Region is one of the first places in England to be trusted with this. That’s not by accident.
It’s recognition of what we’ve achieved since devolution began. From delivering a £500m publicly-owned fleet of state-of-the-art trains, to building our own gigabit-capable fibre network, from investing in green skills to improving the energy efficiency of more than 10,000 homes, we’ve shown that when you trust local leaders, we deliver. We do it quicker, with better value, and with a deeper understanding of what our communities actually need.
This settlement is a vote of confidence in that track record. But it’s also a signal that government finally sees Mayoral Strategic Authorities as central to its growth agenda. And rightly so. If we’re serious about rebalancing the country, about tackling climate change, about creating an economy that works for everyone, then the solutions can’t be dictated from Whitehall. They have to be shaped locally, by the people who know their areas best.
Our Integrated Settlement will allow us to do just that. It means we can join the dots between transport, housing, skills and regeneration in a way that reflects real life – the journeys people make to work, the training they need for a good job, the homes they want to raise a family in. It means we can invest in the things that matter most: affordable homes, reliable buses, opportunities for our young people. And it means we can do so with the certainty that funding won’t be swept away should the tide change nationally.
But this goes beyond the money on offer, it is a real show of trust too. This new power is recognition that local leaders, elected by local people, are best placed to shape the future of their communities. It’s giving us the tools to match our ambition.
The chance to take decisions here, rooted in the knowledge we have of our own communities is an enormous one. Our six boroughs – Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral – are proud places full of potential, and when we unlock that potential, the whole country stands to benefit.
Of course, with greater power comes greater responsibility. We welcome that. Our region has never shied away from hard work. Time and again, we’ve weathered storms and reinvented ourselves. From our world-famous cultural scene to the spirit of innovation that’s driving our economy forward, Liverpool City Region is a place that has always punched above its weight. Now, with this settlement, we have the chance to go further – to build a region that is ready to retake its place on the world stage.
This is the logical next step in our devolution journey. The culmination of years of partnership and vision. It’s a moment to be proud of, but also a chance to look forward, to imagine what more we can achieve when we’re given the freedom to lead.
The Integrated Settlement is a step towards that future. It shows that the tide is turning – that the centre is starting to trust the regions. But it’s also a challenge to us: to keep delivering, keep innovating, and keep proving that devolution works.
This is our opportunity to show the country what the Liverpool City Region can achieve when decisions are taken closer to the people they affect. I’m proud to say that the next chapter in our story will not be written in Westminster or Whitehall – it will be written here, by us, in the greatest city region in the world.
