For too long Westminster has told Yorkshire that it knows best, I’m trusting the region instead - Andy Burnham

I’ve spent a lot of time in Yorkshire over the years. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people here don’t like being told by someone in London that they know better.

Instead of trusting the people who know their communities best, successive governments have hoarded power in Westminster. Local leaders have been forced to queue up for funding, pitch against one another for the basics, and come cap in hand for permission to solve issues they understand far better than anyone sitting behind a desk in SW1.

The result is a system where the closer you are to a problem, the less power you have to solve it.

Places are expected to deliver growth, but denied the power to shape it. Local leaders are expected to improve lives, but robbed of the tools to get on with it. And communities across the country are left wondering why nothing ever really changes.

I won’t have that.

When I entered politics 25 years ago, I made it my mission to rewire that system. And today, I’m announcing the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster in modern English history.

At its core is a new way of thinking about power – what I like to call “local first”.

For decades the question has been: ‘Why should Westminster let go?’ Whenever local leaders have wanted more control over transport, skills or housing, they’ve had to travel to Whitehall to make the case. And more often than not, they’ve got the same answer: a resounding ‘no’.

From today, the government will be asked a different question: ‘Why should Westminster hold on?’ If ministers think powers should stay in Whitehall, they’ll have to explain why. And where they can’t make the case, those powers will be handed back to the communities they’re meant to serve. That’s the new default.

Of course, there are some arguments that are already settled. We don’t need another review to know that local economies should keep more of the wealth they create. Where Yorkshire creates growth, Yorkshire should keep more of the rewards.

That’s why, for the very first time, mayors will now receive a share of the income tax generated in their areas.

And instead of Westminster deciding how every pound should be spent, local people will.

Whether it’s filling potholes in Leeds, backing manufacturing in Sheffield, breathing new life into high streets in Hull, or helping young people into jobs in Bradford, those decisions will be made by the local leaders who know Yorkshire best.

But giving places a share of the wealth they create is only part of the answer. They also need the powers to shape that growth.

That’s why we’re also devolving major new responsibilities over transport, housing, skills, employment support and public services. Anywhere we’re asking the local government to deliver, we’re making sure it has every single tool it needs to do so.

I’m not going to be shy about it - this is a complete transformation of how we govern this country.

For decades, we’ve organised government around departments. Transport sits in one place, skills in another, employment support somewhere else. But people’s lives don’t happen in Westminster’s organisational chart – they happen in places.

That’s why my government will be shaped around communities instead – giving local leaders the freedom to join services up, solve problems earlier, and build stronger local economies in the way that works for the people they serve.

That’s my mission: to completely rewire Britain. From top to bottom.

Because for too long, Westminster has told Yorkshire that it knows best. That didn’t work forty years ago, and it won’t work now.

So I’m taking an approach I know works: I’m trusting Yorkshire instead.