Houchen: I don't want Andy's pocket money

Plus: why are we banning energy drinks, and could AI make Whitehall worse?

Jul 31, 2026

Andy Burnham launched his devolution plan today (though much of it was already in motion under Rachel Reeves), promising to give regional mayors a share of income tax and business rates to spend. As long as they spend it in ways Burnham wants.

Robert Colvile@rcolvile

'We will devolve powers over housing to mayors, but only to build the kind of houses we like'

2:16 PM · Jul 31, 2026 · 4.67K Views

1 Reply · 3 Reposts · 20 Likes

Ben Houchen, Conservative Mayor of the Tees Valley, wants to use the money to give his voters a tax rebate – but the Government confirmed today that would be blocked. Writing for CapX, he explains why a mayor who can’t make these decisions isn’t really a mayor at all.

And mark your calendars – Budget day is set for October 28. Suitably close to Halloween.

Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.

Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX

Today’s Takes

Fresh thinking from CapX

*Annabel Lee-Ellis-WPA Pool/Getty Images*

Mayors need power – not pocket money

Ben Houchen

‘If a share of the income tax and business rates raised on Teesside lands in my budget, I’ll use it to launch a rebate scheme.’

Andy Burnham is right that Westminster’s grip on power needs breaking. But the money he is handing regional mayors comes so tied up in conditions that they can’t control how to spend it, which turns the whole thing into theatre. Ben Houchen argues he should be free to give Teesside’s share back to the people who earned it. Read More

Labour’s rail plan puts Britain on the wrong track

Joshua Bowden and Len Shackleton

‘Many fans of rail nationalisation claim that the separation of trains and track under privatisation was the fault of those awful Tories. This is twaddle.’

The Tories get blamed for the state of our rail network. But passenger numbers soared under privatisation, while the separation of trains and track began under British Railways. The network needs more competition: open-access operators have brought high-quality inter-city services to regional Britain for the first time in decades. The Railways Bill puts that at risk. Read More

Stat of the day

Best of the Web

Burnham’s levelling-up drive will backfire

Ross Clark, The Spectator

‘You simply can't have a system of distributing public funds which benefits areas of growth without it causing relative poverty to places which are not economically doing well.’

Burnham’s tax shake-up will reward the postcodes that need it least. Under his plans, mayors keep a share of the income tax and business rates raised locally – dismantling the very pooling system designed to move money from City banks to declining areas. In Manchester the centre boomed and Oldham didn’t – the country is next. Read More

A load of (red) bull

Christopher Snowdon, The Critic

‘Perhaps it is too much to ask for evidence-based policymaking from governments that are effectively run by Mumsnet and YouGov, but even the Scottish government concluded that there was insufficient evidence to justify such a ban.’

Governments love to talk about evidence-based policymaking. Yet England's ban on selling energy drinks to under-16s has been kicking around for eight years without anyone settling what the policy is supposed to deliver. You may not care about teenagers, but every adult buying one will have to prove their age if this ban comes in. Read More