Manchester Mayor Bev Craig’s hopes ahead of the Budget

Greater Manchester is on the cusp of getting enormous new power over its future.

Mayors including Bev Craig are set to keep a bigger share of local business rates, giving regions more power over how the money is spent. The move was announced by the government earlier this year and is set to be rolled out from spring 2027.

Bev Caig said it could mean Greater Manchester is soon able to fund major infrastructure projects such as tram extensions by itself, without going ‘cap in hand’ to Westminster.

It comes as political leaders across the country will be watching Chancellor John Healey’s first budget on Wednesday (October 28).

The mayor of Greater Manchester said: “The previous mayor and combined authority leaders talked about the ability of the tram to go to Stockport, talked about tram-train in the northeast of the region, all of that is work that is underway, but did not have a funding stream assigned to it, so would have to wait until a funding stream became available.

“Retained business rates over a long period of time would let me be able to say, ‘okay, I’ve got certainty for the next 20 years against this level of growth. I can therefore borrow to take the tram-train to Heywood’.

“It lets you do quite simple things but doesn’t actually cost the public purse any money because it’s where money is moved differently.”

Major infrastructure projects in Greater Manchester have often relied on government funding to move forward, and the need to make a business case convincing Westminster to cough up enough cash.

This was the case for the Stockport Metrolink expansion, which got to a point in 2024 when former mayor Andy Burnham was having to explain why there were ‘delays’ to the business case being made for the plans.

Funding for the tram extension to Stockport was finally confirmed by former Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year.

But Bev Craig said the plans to give mayors more control over how business rates are spent would give Greater Manchester ‘the ability to set [its] own path’ for the future.

Speaking on what she is looking out for in the budget on Wednesday, the mayor said: “What I’m looking for [in the budget] from GM is a commitment around devolution on a number of things, that power, resource, but also the ability to set our own path [being] handed more down in the budget.

“When we talk about devolution, we talk about funding, we talk about the ability to retain business rates to capture and invest in both the benefits of growth, but also what you need to be able to keep growing, that’s really important to me.”

Bev Craig explained that keeping hold of local business rates could help major regeneration projects around Greater Manchester keep moving forward.

She added: “For example, in Atom Valley, the biggest challenge that we face in Atom Valley is infrastructure investment and a motorway junction.

“We could, in retaining the business rates from Atom Valley, borrow against that to build our own junction so we’re not having to wait cap in hand for a strategic highways review that comes.”

Manchester-based think tank IPPR North said retained business rates could bring major benefits across Greater Manchester.

A spokesperson said: “The real prize of fiscal devolution is enabling regional leaders to borrow to deliver the infrastructure their economies need.

“Giving mayors a greater share of business rates to borrow against could help address the underinvestment and delays that have held back growth, in Greater Manchester but also across the rest of the North.

“We want to see regions like Greater Manchester gain more financial independence from Whitehall, including through income tax devolution, so that mayors don’t have to await permission before making game changing decisions for their region.

“For GM, that might look like an underground metro system or regenerated high streets in its surrounding towns and communities.

“So IPPR North supports this shift from the government, but caution that some places can raise much more from business rates than others.

“As fiscal devolution develops, government must get equalisation right by continuing to support areas with weaker tax bases through grants and redistribution. Every area needs the means to invest if we want growth in every postcode.”