Glasgow needs a metro mayor
3 min read
Successful cities are the only realistic option for delivering good growth in every part of the country.
Cities make up two-thirds of the economy on just 9 per cent of the UK’s land. They are important to prosperity, and increasingly so.
Cities created three-quarters of all jobs nationally in the last decade. Focusing just on the highest-paid roles, cities created nine in ten.
While London leads the way in adding new jobs, cities in the North of England like Warrington and York are adding high-paid jobs faster than most cities in the South. Liverpool and Leeds make big contributions to growth and jobs in their regions too.
There’s more they can do. To realise the potential of urban Britain, there needs to be enough capability to make decisions at the scale of the city region.
England has made big strides in this area in the last decade. Devolving powers over housing, public transport and skills has given big cities the means to unlock more new opportunities and connect people to them.
Mayors are integrating their transport networks, developing new homes around stations, regenerating their city centres to make space for more jobs, and giving residents access to the skills they need to access local roles.
The government’s move to give mayors a share of local tax revenues from 2028 represents a new wave of devolution of growth-raising powers.
But England’s progress means Scotland – and in particular Glasgow – risks being left behind. When the National Economic Council meets at Number 10 North, all of Britain’s five largest cities are represented by metro mayors, except Glasgow.
If more local power is the way to unlock the potential of Britain's cities, then deeper devolution for Glasgow city region is a priority. It accounts for a third of Scotland’s population and economic output, and 37 per cent of its private sector knowledge jobs.
The potential economic reward is large. Centre for Cities estimates that Glasgow could add £7.3bn a year more to Scotland’s economy if its productivity matched that of comparable European cities.
Unlocking this potential – and the potential of other Scottish cities – requires stronger leadership and greater local control over decisions that shape growth and the way people access the benefits.
Glasgow’s economy operates across council boundaries. More than half of the jobs in the city of Glasgow are filled by people living in neighbouring local authorities. That leaves responsibility – for decisions about transport links, housing and economic development – fragmented between local authorities, public bodies and Holyrood.
This fragmentation makes it harder to agree priorities, coordinate investment and deliver major projects.
Glasgow's economy operates as a city-region, and it needs to be governed as one too. It should borrow the approach that’s worked in England: a mayor-led strategic authority with meaningful powers over transport, skills, strategic planning and funding.
A directly elected mayor would have a mandate to make decisions for the whole city-region, rather than relying on agreement between individual councils, and they would have the powers and resources to deliver on their plans.
Mayors are already delivering in England’s big metro areas. A mayor for Glasgow city region could deliver too.
A skills strategy could better connect residents to employment opportunities. Strategic planning could concentrate new housing around the city-region’s rail and Subway networks, giving more people access to jobs. Integrating local bus, train and Subway networks could give even more people access to the city centre within a half-hour commute.
The success of all UK nations is determined by the success of their cities, and England seems to understand this. In Scotland, Glasgow city-region has the potential to make a big contribution to national prosperity. It needs the leadership and powers to deliver it.
Andrew Carter is Chief Executive of Centre for Cities
