Political meddling by Cllr Pete Marland, Labour Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, is risking millions of investment into Milton Keynes and the wider region, says the Conservative Group Leader Cllr Shazna Muzammil.
Cllr Muzammil has accused Cllr Marland of deliberately undermining the potential South Midlands devolution deal, jeopardising the millions of investment and enhanced control over local services that a Mayoral Strategic Authority would provide.
This accusation comes after the Labour Leader’s sudden U-turn to exclude the Northamptonshire authorities from the proposal, jeopardising the whole transformational programme aimed at benefitting the region.
Group Leader Cllr Muzammil has criticised the Labour leader’s actions as “reckless political opportunism’ particularly targeting Cllr Pete Marland and his fellow Labour Leader Cllr Hazel
Simmons, of Luton Borough Council, for withdrawing their support and attempting to exclude
the Conservative-led Northamptonshire authorities out at this late and critical stage.
She raises that it will be the residents of Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Luton and Northampton
that will pay the price for this ‘shameless gameplaying’ as a lack of consensus threatens the
whole project and thus risks access to the significant investment and transfer of services to
local control that comes with a devolution deal.
Significantly, Mayoral Strategic Authorities receive long term investment funds to drive growth
and fund strategic priorities such as investment in infrastructure, transport and healthcare.
For example, the East Midlands Mayoral Combined County authority received an investment
fund of £38 million per year for 30 years under their devolution agreement and has used funds
to invest in projects such as Clean Energy Supercluster, regeneration projects within Derby
City and new highways infrastructure.
It would be ‘baffling, short-sighted and incredibly damaging’ says Cllr Muzammil to lose out
on the opportunity to access such for transformational investment for our region.
The originally proposed Strategic Authority, with an appointed Mayor, was intended to include
Milton Keynes City Council, Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Luton
Borough Council alongside West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire
Council. But, with the Government clearly pushing for an elected Mayor within devolved
authorities, giving residents the democratic power to choose their leader, Cllr Marland’s
position has flipped.
Cllr Shazna Muzammil argues that the original makeup of the proposed mayoral strategic
authority ‘makes absolute sense’ considering the historic partnership of all the authorities
including as board members of SEMLEP from 2011-2024, members of the Central Area Growth
Board from 2018-24 until it was replaced by the South Midlands Authorities board that existstoday. This successful collaboration has resulted in sustainable economic growth across the region, delivering projects such as the South Midlands Growth Hub, which has provided business support, mentoring and a variety of workshops to over 700 businesses, with nearly 200 jobs created through their grant schemes.
Cllr Shazna Muzammil, Conservative Group Leader, finished:
“Cllr Marland needs to put residents first. His sudden U-turn on including Northamptonshire
in a devolution deal is political opportunism at its worst. For over a decade, we’ve worked
closely with Northamptonshire—sharing transport, health, and economic ties. Why would anyone want to fracture those relationships—especially when only weeks ago, he fully supported their involvement? Breaking that partnership now is a betrayal of everything devolution could achieve for Milton Keynes.
“Why is the Labour council taking residents needs for granted? Devolution isn’t about Labour’s
political ambitions; it’s about providing real benefits for residents. We need to back proposals
that deliver for all of us, not rushed plans designed to serve narrow political interests. Milton
Keynes residents deserve better, and they should be prioritised above all else.”
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