PwC comments on the King's Speech - three E’s of devolving empowerment, education and economic growth

Commenting on devolution & economic growth, Rachel Taylor, government and health industries leader, said:

“The three E’s of devolving empowerment, education and economic growth are at the heart of the legislative agenda to kickstart delivery of the new Government’s missions. For too long it has been a one-way street with calls for further devolution from the UK’s regions and cities, but this signals the rebalance of control required to deliver on skills, planning and infrastructure, and transport. 

“For devolution to reach beyond the trailblazer deals, there is a need to redress the resource, and infrastructure across localities which has been stripped away over years of fiscal strain. To be successful these efforts will need to be properly funded, developed in partnership with local businesses and backed-up with sufficient powers. 

“The success of which will hinge on close collaboration between national, local and regional governments to drive delivery of transport, housing, labour supply, skills and training and grid infrastructure.”

Zoe Watters, public sector infrastructure partner at PwC, comments on the Better Buses Bill:

“This signals a push by the new Government to speed up and expand the existing bus franchising powers, getting services into public control as quickly as possible and extending to all authorities, not just the Mayoral Combined Authorities. We should not underestimate the impact of bus travel on economic growth as twice as many journeys are made via bus than trains and they are, in many localities, the only means of public transport. Speed is therefore of the essence if we are to rapidly enable genuine local transport decisions that will make a difference to citizens. 

“With the removal of a ban on public ownership of bus operators, it will be a challenge for authorities to navigate fair competition between public and private operators. Authorities will need to ensure a level playing field and to avoid ‘cherry picking’ of more profitable routes by all operators, regardless of ownership.”

Commenting on transport, Grant Klein, transport leader at PwC, said:

“Given the new Government's focus on driving economic growth across all parts of the UK, better and more integrated transport is vital to delivering its mission. The combination of moves by creating Great British Railways, accelerating devolution of transport in Combined Authority areas, and extending bus franchising to all local leaders all give the green light to greater levels of connectivity to help grow the economy through greater access to places and jobs. 

“However, there needs to be a coherent plan, stitching together joined up travel services in a region with a proposition that is easy to understand and that gives the authority levers to influence travel aligned to economic, carbon and air quality objectives. Listening to stakeholders across the country, it’s clear that regional level plans are needed, providing the infrastructure and transport services that give citizens a joined-up experience. This cannot be a transport solution on its own; it has to join up with the need to travel, with a wider place-based vision tailored to the region.

“There’s an exciting opportunity in this combination of proposals for a region to take control, to make decisions directly relevant for that geography. There will be details to work through - not least how local and combined authorities will input and benefit from any changes to rail fares. It’s clear the ambition is there; the legislation will enable things to move more quickly. So the next challenge will be on how to make the finances work. That starts with a combination of central government funding and various flavours of fare box, and then almost inevitably involves some form of additional local revenue, such as business rates, coupled with private finance.”

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Growth was a key focus of the King’s speech, as the new Labour Government seeks to place economic growth at the heart of their plans for the next five years. The latest edition of PwC’s UK Economic Outlook, released today, explores how viable this ambition is, given domestic and international realities and challenges. Read more here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/uk-economic-outlook-july-2024.html