The Labour government wants mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) to play a leading role in delivering faster economic growth – so what can ministers do to help MCAs achieve success in this mission?

With an expanding set of devolved transport, skills, housing and planning powers, MCAs are well-placed to drive regional growth – but success is not a given. To capitalise on their potential, MCAs need effective decision-making structures, sufficient institutional capacity, and strong accountability mechanisms.

The government’s devolution white paper sets out proposals to reform the capacity, accountability, and decision-making processes of MCAs, but do these reforms go far enough? What are the potential risks? And what more can the government do to support MCAs to succeed?

To answer these questions, we were joined by:

Amy Harhoff, Chief Executive of the East Midlands Combined County Authority

Rebecca McKee, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government

Jim McMahon MP, Minister for Local Government and English Devolution

Laura Shoaf, Chief Executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority

This event was chaired by Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

Introductory remarks were also be delivered by Robert Breedon, Partner and Co-leader of Government Sector at Gowling WLG.

We would like to thank Gowling WLG for kindly supporting this event.