Sir Keir Starmer to meet with mayors and devolved leaders

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will meet with mayors and leaders of the devolved nations this week as he has pledged “no more talking shops of the past”.

Downing Street has announced that Sir Keir will gather with leaders in Scotland on Friday in a meeting that will focus on opportunities for investment in the UK.

It comes ahead of the International Investment Summit later this month to which local leaders and the heads of the devolved governments have also been invited.

The Prime Minister has said he is “determined to bring forward a new era of stability, trust and partnership with businesses, investors, devolved governments and local leaders to boost the economy, and restore the UK’s reputation one of the best places in the world to do business”.

He said the Government is “delivering our promise to convene the first Council of the Nations and Regions”.

He added: “No more talking shops of the past. Genuine, meaningful and focused partnership to change the way we do business, redefine our position on the world’s stage and unlock the whole of the UK’s untapped potential to make everyone, everywhere better-off.”

The Prime Minister will take part in an in-conversation event with Eric Schmidt, former chief executive officer of Google, at the investment summit on October 14.

Tracy Brabin, who has been mayor of West Yorkshire since 2021, described mayors as “champions of their regions at home and abroad”, and said that “our investments in transport, skills and homes create the right environment for growth by connecting businesses to the talent and finance they need to succeed”.

Sir Keir met with regional mayors in Downing Street days after Labour’s election victory and pledged the Government would set up a “council for regions and nations”.

Speaking during the meeting in Number 10 on July 9, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t want to overly formalise it, but I do want a degree of formality so that it’s a meeting that everybody knows is a meeting where business is done, where decisions are properly recorded and actioned.

“And where people know that we will all be there and we won’t be sending substitutes, or missing the meeting.”

At the time, Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, told the BBC that the plans were “music to my ears”.

“To have a council of the regions and nations meeting regularly just means we can be sure that the voice of Greater Manchester, of the North of England, is heard at the heart of Whitehall on an ongoing basis,” he said.