Overview
- The Great North coalition of metro mayors and council leaders has sent a joint letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Autumn Budget.
- Signatories include Labour mayors Kim McGuinness, Andy Burnham, David Skaith, Tracey Brabin, Oliver Coppard and Steve Rotheram, along with Reform UK’s Luke Campbell and council leaders from Reform, the Liberal Democrats and Labour.
- The letter calls for abolishing the two‑child benefit cap, citing estimates that reversal would lift about 630,000 children out of poverty nationwide, including more than 100,000 in the North.
- It also presses for full delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail, including reopening the Leamside Line, a new Liverpool–Manchester–Huddersfield–Leeds link, electrification between Leeds and Sheffield, and stable devolved business funding to replace UKSPF and the Rural England Prosperity Fund.
- Tees Valley Conservative mayor Ben Houchen was the only northern metro mayor not to sign, opposing removal of the cap while saying he will keep working with fellow mayors on other priorities.