Business needs to be central to devolution agenda warns Danczuk

Photo: Journeaux

Simon Danczuk

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has criticised the Government for failing to make business central to their plans to devolve power to cities.

Questioning the Business Secretary Sajid Javid in the House of Commons on Tuesday 30 June, Mr Danczuk made the point that “helping businesses to grow and develop is a key aim of the devolution and northern powerhouse agendas”.

He went on to question why the word ‘business’ does not appear once in the Government’s flagship Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill.

Mr Javid was unable to answer the question, responding simply that: “It is important that the word “business” and the importance of business appear throughout government policy”.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Danczuk was critical of the Government’s response.

He said: “I strongly believe that the whole point of devolution should be to allow communities to have more power to shape their own futures and boost growth.

"Working with business is obviously a big part of that, so it is really worrying that the Government have left business out of their Devolution Bill.

"The Government is missing a chance to give away powers, such as over business rates, that will really make a difference in terms of growing local economies.”