Regional Mayors and the Cost of Living Crisis: What Local Leaders Can and Cannot Do
Economy · Guide
Regional Mayors and the Cost of Living Crisis: What Local Leaders Can and Cannot Do
This plain-English guide examines what UK metro mayors have actually done on the cost of living crisis since 2017, what the evidence shows about outcomes, and where the hard limits of regional power lie. It covers transport, housing, employment and energy across Greater Manchester, London, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and South Yorkshire.
A note on the current political context
Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July 2026, having previously served as Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026. His mayoral record is examined in this article as a case study in what regional government can deliver on cost of living, alongside the records of other metro mayors. His national policy commitments as Prime Minister are discussed separately where they build directly on his mayoral model, but this article evaluates documented outcomes from the mayoral period rather than national ambitions.
Quick read: key points
- Greater Manchester’s Bee Network is the clearest evidence that regional government can deliver measurable cost of living improvements through transport. The £2 adult single bus fare cap, maintained for four consecutive years to end-2026, contributed to an estimated 12% increase in bus trips and the largest rise in passenger satisfaction of any area in England in the first year of operation.
- London Mayor Sadiq Khan allocated £123 million to freeze TfL fares until March 2025, with City Hall analysis showing that fares set by the Mayor in 2024 were 14% lower than if they had risen in line with National Rail fares, and 21% lower than if they had risen with RPI since 2016.
- Regional mayors have limited statutory powers over the cost of living. They cannot set energy prices, freeze private rents without central government powers, or increase welfare benefits. The most effective interventions have been in transport, where several mayors have direct operational control, and in employment and skills, where devolved budgets allow targeted local action.
- Rough sleeping outcomes illustrate the limits of regional power. Andy Burnham’s A Bed Every Night programme reduced rough sleeping in Greater Manchester from 268 in 2017 to 89 in 2021. But the figure rose to 197 by the autumn 2025 count, driven primarily by national factors: frozen Local Housing Allowance rates, increased evictions from asylum accommodation and unmet health and social care needs.
- There are now 14 metro mayors across England as of May 2025. Their powers and funding vary significantly. Greater Manchester and West Midlands hold Trailblazer 100% Business Rates Retention Agreements. Several receive Integrated Settlements combining previously separate funding streams. The Devolution White Paper 2024 set out a framework for extending these powers further.
- The strongest evidence for regional government reducing cost of living is in transport. The weakest is in housing and energy, where national legislative and fiscal powers are required. The honest assessment is that regional mayors can make a material difference at the margins but cannot resolve a cost of living crisis that is driven primarily by national economic conditions.
Key terms
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Metro mayor | A directly elected mayor of a combined authority covering a city region. As of May 2025, there are 14 metro mayors in England. They chair their combined authority, which is a body made up of the constituent local councils. Their powers are set out in devolution deals negotiated with central government. |
| Combined authority | A statutory body created by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, bringing together a group of local authorities to take on devolved powers from central government. Greater Manchester was the first combined authority, established in April 2011. |
| Devolution deal | An agreement between central government and a combined authority setting out what powers and funding are transferred from Whitehall to the region. Powers typically include housing, skills, transport and, in some areas, health and justice. |
| Trailblazer deal | An enhanced devolution agreement reached with Greater Manchester and West Midlands in 2023, giving those two combined authorities 100% retention of business rates growth in their area, consolidated funding settlements and additional powers over employment support, housing and skills. |
| Integrated Settlement | A consolidated block of central government funding given to a combined authority to spend flexibly across its devolved responsibilities, replacing separate ringfenced grants. Confirmed at Autumn Budget 2024 for Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the North East, Liverpool City Region and the Greater London Authority. |
| Bee Network | Greater Manchester’s integrated public transport system, run under a bus franchising model since September 2023. The first place in England outside London to retake control of buses after deregulation in the 1980s. Named after the worker bee, a symbol of Manchester. Covers buses and Metrolink trams with integrated ticketing and capped fares. |
| Bus franchising | A system in which the local transport authority sets routes, fares, standards and contracts, while private operators run services under those contracts. The alternative to the deregulated system, where private operators run services as they choose. London has always operated a franchising model. Greater Manchester became the second place in England to adopt it in 2023. |
| Local Housing Allowance (LHA) | The rate of housing benefit paid to private renters on low incomes or Universal Credit. Set nationally by central government. Frozen between 2016 and 2024. Its adequacy relative to local market rents is a key driver of homelessness. Metro mayors have no power over LHA rates. |
| A Bed Every Night | Greater Manchester’s rough sleeping programme, launched by Andy Burnham in 2018. Provides emergency shelter across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs, 365 days a year. Covers around 600 beds per night as of early 2026. |
What powers do regional mayors actually have?
Understanding what metro mayors can and cannot do is essential for assessing their record on cost of living. The powers vary significantly between areas and have expanded over time through successive devolution deals. As of 2026, the core powers most metro mayors hold cover transport, housing and planning strategy, adult skills and employment support, and economic development. Greater Manchester and West Midlands have additional powers through their Trailblazer deals, including over health integration, criminal justice and consolidated funding.
What metro mayors cannot do is equally important. They cannot set or freeze private rents without specific statutory powers granted by Parliament, which have not been granted. They cannot change welfare benefit rates or Local Housing Allowance levels, which are set nationally. They cannot intervene in energy pricing. They cannot create new taxes without Parliamentary approval. Their leverage over the cost of living is therefore largely indirect, working through transport affordability, housing supply, employment and skills investment, and targeted support programmes.
| Policy area | Mayoral power | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Transport fares | Direct operational control in areas with bus franchising or existing transport authority (London, Greater Manchester). Can set fares, cap prices and define routes. | Only applies to services under franchising or direct control. National rail fares set by DfT and train operating companies. |
| Housing supply | Can set regional housing targets, allocate brownfield funding, use compulsory purchase powers and direct affordable housing requirements in planning policy. | Cannot build homes directly without funding. Dependent on developer activity and national planning policy. Cannot freeze private rents. |
| Employment and skills | Can commission adult skills programmes, direct Multiply numeracy funding, run employment support for specific groups and integrate Jobcentre Plus services under some deals. | Cannot change Universal Credit. Cannot create jobs directly. Dependent on national labour market conditions. |
| Energy | Can promote energy efficiency through retrofit programmes, establish local energy companies or anchor institutions, and direct investment through mayoral development corporations. | Cannot set energy prices, change the price cap or alter the national energy market. Cannot compel energy suppliers. |
| Homelessness | Can commission rough sleeping programmes, direct Homelessness Prevention Grant funding and integrate health and social care responses to homelessness. | Cannot set LHA rates, prevent evictions from asylum accommodation or build social housing without significant capital funding from central government. |
Greater Manchester: the Bee Network and beyond
Greater Manchester’s Bee Network is the most extensively documented case of a regional mayor using devolved transport powers to reduce household costs. From September 2022, bus single fares were capped at £2 for adults and £1 for children across Greater Manchester, brought forward a year early from the original planned date specifically as a cost of living measure. The £2 adult cap was maintained for a fourth consecutive year into end-2026. Metrolink tram fares were frozen for a sixth consecutive year in 2026.
What the Bee Network evidence shows
The fare cap contributed to an estimated 12% increase in bus trips in Greater Manchester. National satisfaction survey data shows Greater Manchester recorded the largest increase in passenger satisfaction of any area in England in the first full year of Bee Network operation, with value for money perceptions rising sharply. Free 16 to 18 travel through the Our Pass scheme and free all-day travel for older and disabled people (from March 2026, removing previous 9.30am restrictions) extended the affordability benefit beyond the adult fare cap. As of January 2026, Andy Burnham had also announced plans to accelerate further transport integration, including local rail. The Centre for Cities describes the Bee Network as the clearest example of devolution producing visible public service change.
Rough sleeping: a more mixed record
Andy Burnham launched the A Bed Every Night programme in 2018, providing emergency shelter across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs. The rough sleeping count fell from 268 in 2017 to 89 in 2021, a genuine and significant achievement. But the trajectory reversed: rough sleeping rose for four consecutive years, reaching 197 on the official autumn 2025 count. The Institute for Government attributes this reversal primarily to national factors including frozen LHA rates between 2019 and 2024, increased evictions from asylum accommodation, and unmet health and social care needs. The A Bed Every Night programme continued to provide approximately 600 beds per night as of early 2026, and the GMCA committed £340 million to a renewed rough sleeping programme running from 2026, but the structural drivers of rising rough sleeping remain outside the mayor’s direct control.
Housing and the Trailblazer deal
Greater Manchester’s Trailblazer deal, agreed in March 2023, gave the combined authority 100% retention of business rates growth, estimated at £23 million per year from 2026 onwards, alongside a consolidated funding settlement replacing multiple ringfenced grants. These resources have been directed in part toward housing supply, brownfield remediation and employment support. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed Greater Manchester would receive an Integrated Settlement, meaning greater flexibility over how devolved funding is spent. Housing supply in Greater Manchester remains below the level needed to address demand, a limitation acknowledged publicly, including in the critical assessments of Burnham’s mayoral record published following his election as Prime Minister in July 2026.
London: the longest-running mayoral cost of living programme
The Mayor of London has operated the most extensive and longest-running regional cost of living programme, reflecting both the scale of London’s affordability challenge and the greater powers and resources available to the GLA compared with combined authorities outside London.
TfL fare freezes: the evidence
Sadiq Khan froze TfL fares from 2016 to 2021, at a cost of £640 million over four years. A second freeze ran until March 2025, funded by £123 million of GLA budget allocation. City Hall analysis published in January 2024 showed that TfL fares set by the Mayor were 14% lower than if they had risen in line with National Rail fares, and 21% lower than if they had risen with RPI since 2016. The Mayor’s office estimated savings of up to £90 per year for individual commuters. The national rail fare increase of 4.9% in January 2024 ran alongside the London freeze, widening the gap between TfL and national rail costs for London commuters.
Housing and rent: the limits of London mayoral power
Sadiq Khan called in March 2022 for statutory powers to freeze private rents in London for two years, citing City Hall analysis that a rent freeze would save the average London renter £2,988 over two years. The request was declined by the then Conservative government. Khan allocated £3.46 billion to building affordable homes and £400 million to skills and employment programmes. Despite these investments, London remains the least affordable housing market in the UK. The Mayor has no statutory power over private sector rents without Parliament granting it. This is the clearest single illustration of the structural limit on mayoral cost of living policy.
Other mayoral areas: what has been done
| Region and mayor | Cost of living measures | Evidence of outcome |
|---|---|---|
| West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin (Labour, re-elected May 2024) | £13.5 million invested in skills and employment services. £67 million for new homes on brownfield sites. Local digital skills partnership to improve employment access. Bus reform programme including working toward bus franchising similar to Greater Manchester model. | West Yorkshire’s brownfield housing programme is ongoing; completion and affordability data is not yet independently assessed. Employment figures for West Yorkshire improved in line with national trends 2022 to 2024, though attribution to specific mayoral interventions requires caution. |
| Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram (Labour) | Enhanced business rates retention arrangements continued to 2028/29, confirmed at Autumn Budget 2025. Regional housing and employment programmes. Active advocacy for further devolution of employment support. | Liverpool City Region received Integrated Settlement funding confirmed at Autumn Budget 2024. Independent evaluation of specific cost of living impact has not been published as of the time of writing. |
| South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard (Labour) | Investment in skills and employment through the Mayoral Combined Authority. Beds for Babies programme providing safe sleep spaces for children aged 0 to 5, described by the Institute for Government as a cost of living and child welfare measure. Transport integration work. | The Beds for Babies programme (£2.2 million, announced March 2024) is specifically targeted at low-income families and constitutes a direct household cost reduction for eligible families. Broader cost of living outcomes are not yet independently evaluated. |
| West Midlands, Richard Parker (Labour, elected 2024) | 100% business rates retention under Trailblazer deal (£15 million per year from 2026). Integrated Settlement confirmed at Autumn Budget 2024. Employment and skills programmes inherited from predecessor Andy Street, with emphasis on manufacturing sector employment. | Richard Parker was elected in May 2024 by a slender margin over Conservative incumbent Andy Street. The West Midlands economy has not yet been independently assessed under his tenure. Trailblazer funding provides a resource base for cost of living investment. |
| North East, Kim McGuinness (Labour) | The North East mayoral combined authority was created in 2024, absorbing the North of Tyne combined authority. Received Integrated Settlement funding. Employment and transport as primary policy areas. | New authority; insufficient track record to evaluate cost of living outcomes. The Institute for Government notes the North East has some of the highest deprivation levels of any mayoral area in England, meaning the potential impact of effective cost of living policy is significant. |
The balanced view: what regional mayors can and cannot change
The case that regional mayors make a real difference
The Bee Network demonstrates that regional government, when equipped with the right powers and willing to use them, can produce measurable, lasting improvements in household affordability. The 12% increase in bus trips and the sharp rise in value for money satisfaction in Greater Manchester are real changes in real people’s daily costs. London’s fare freeze, maintained over a decade with two separate programmes, kept commuter costs materially below the national average. Employment and skills devolution has, in the IFS’s assessment, produced some evidence of better targeting of support to local labour markets. Devolution gives regional leaders the ability to make decisions quickly, tailor them to local conditions and sustain them through multiple administrations in ways that national government, moving at national pace, cannot replicate.
The case that regional power is insufficient to address the crisis
The cost of living crisis is driven primarily by national and global factors: energy price shocks, food price inflation, mortgage rate rises and wage stagnation against a national fiscal backdrop. Regional mayors have no power over any of these. The rough sleeping evidence from Greater Manchester illustrates this clearly: a genuinely effective regional programme was overwhelmed by national policy changes, principally the LHA freeze, that the mayor could neither control nor offset. London’s rental affordability has deteriorated throughout the period of the most sustained mayoral investment in the capital in modern history. The Centre for Cities notes that even the most ambitious devolution deals give combined authorities a fraction of the fiscal and legislative power available to comparable city-regional governments in Germany, France or the United States. The gap between what mayors can claim to be doing and what they can actually deliver on cost of living is, in the assessment of most independent economists, large.
The balanced view table
| Category | What the evidence shows |
|---|---|
| Settled fact | Greater Manchester’s Bee Network produced a 12% increase in bus trips and the largest rise in passenger satisfaction in England in its first year. London’s TfL fares are 21% lower than if they had risen with RPI since 2016. The A Bed Every Night programme reduced rough sleeping from 268 to 89 between 2017 and 2021 before national factors reversed the trend. There are 14 metro mayors as of May 2025 with varying powers and Integrated Settlements confirmed for seven major mayoral areas. |
| Contested interpretation | Whether the Bee Network’s 12% bus trip increase can be fully attributed to fare caps rather than other factors. Whether mayoral employment and skills programmes produce outcomes superior to centrally administered ones. Whether the scale of brownfield housing investment across mayoral areas is translating into affordable homes at meaningful scale. |
| Values dispute | Whether the primary response to cost of living pressures should be devolved to regional government or handled nationally. Whether the Burnham model of public transport franchising and regional institutional change is the right approach for all parts of England, including less urbanised areas. Whether the pace of devolution under the Devolution White Paper 2024 is appropriate. |
Practical steps: what this means if you live in a mayoral area
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| Check your transport entitlements | If you live in Greater Manchester, check the Bee Network website (tfgm.com) for current fare caps, the Our Pass scheme for 16 to 18 year olds, and free all-day concessionary travel for older and disabled people. In London, check tfl.gov.uk for current TfL fares and Freedom Pass eligibility. |
| Check your skills and employment support | Every mayoral area runs adult skills and employment programmes funded through devolved budgets. These are often better targeted to local employers and industries than national programmes. Contact your combined authority or search your region’s combined authority website for employment support. |
| Check affordable housing programmes | Combined authorities have brownfield housing funds and can direct affordable housing requirements. If you are on a housing waiting list, contact both your local council and your combined authority to understand what programmes exist in your area. |
| Engage with mayoral consultations | Metro mayors consult on their budgets, transport strategies and housing plans. These are opportunities to influence how devolved funding is spent. Search your combined authority’s website for current consultations. |
| Know who your mayor is | As of May 2025, there are 14 metro mayors in England. Not everyone in England has one. If you are unsure whether you live in a mayoral area, search your postcode at centreforcities.org or check your local council’s website. |
Free support organisations
| Organisation | What they offer | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Centre for Cities | Independent research on UK cities and regions. Publishes analysis of metro mayor policies, devolution outcomes and urban cost of living. | centreforcities.org |
| Institute for Government | Independent think tank publishing evidence-based analysis of devolution, mayoral powers and public service delivery. | instituteforgovernment.org.uk |
| Citizens Advice | Free advice on benefits, housing, debt and employment in every part of the UK. Local offices match local services. | 0800 144 8848. citizensadvice.org.uk |
| Turn2us | Free tool to find grants, benefits and local support available in your area, including regionally funded programmes. | turn2us.org.uk |
| Transport for Greater Manchester | Bee Network fares, routes, Our Pass and concessionary travel information for Greater Manchester residents. | tfgm.com |
| Transport for London | Current TfL fares, Freedom Pass eligibility, Zip Oyster for under-18s and travel support for London residents. | tfl.gov.uk |
Sources used in this guide
Centre for Cities, Metro Mayors overview, March 2026. centreforcities.org/metro-mayors. Source for the total of 14 combined authority mayors as of May 2025 and description of the Bee Network as the clearest example of devolution producing visible public service change.
Institute for Government, Regional mayors explainer, May 2026. instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/regional-mayors-devolution. Source for mayoral powers overview, A Bed Every Night description, South Yorkshire Beds for Babies programme (£2.2 million, March 2024), and analysis of national factors driving rough sleeping increases.
GOV.UK, Explanatory note on Mayoral Strategic Authority funding 2026 to 2027: final, February 2026. Source for Integrated Settlements confirmed for Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the North East, Liverpool City Region and the GLA at Autumn Budget 2024, and business rates retention figures (Greater Manchester £23 million, West Midlands £15 million from 2026).
Transport for Greater Manchester, Bee Network fares frozen throughout 2026 announcement. Salford City Council news, January 2026. Source for the £2 single bus fare retained for a fourth consecutive year, Metrolink fares frozen for a sixth year and concessionary pass changes from March 2026.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Better off with the Bee Network announcement, 2023. greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk. Source for the 12% estimated increase in bus trips and the description of the Bee Network fare structure.
The Conversation, Andy Burnham promised to change Greater Manchester. Almost ten years on, how did he do? July 2026. Source for rough sleeping figures (268 in 2017, 89 in 2021, 197 in autumn 2025 count), four consecutive years of rising figures, and the largest passenger satisfaction increase in England in the first year of the Bee Network.
Mayor of London, Freezing TfL fares announcement, January 2024. london.gov.uk. Source for £123 million GLA allocation to freeze TfL fares until March 2025, savings of up to £90 per year, fares 14% below National Rail equivalent and 21% below RPI-linked levels since 2016.
Mayor of London, Mayor calls for rent freeze press release, March 2022. london.gov.uk. Source for the rent freeze request to central government, the £2,988 two-year saving estimate, and the £200,000 extension of Debt Free London’s helpline.
Public Sector Executive, Andy Burnham sets out mayoral plans to strengthen Greater Manchester, January 2026. Source for Our Pass free 16 to 18 travel, 600 beds per night for rough sleepers, and the proposed 2026 mayoral precept increase.
Insider Media, Who are the metro mayors?, March 2024. Source for West Yorkshire £13.5 million skills investment and £67 million brownfield housing funding under Mayor Tracy Brabin.
House of Commons Library, Devolution to local government in England (CBP-10194), June 2025. Source for the legislative framework of devolution deals, Trailblazer deals and the timeline of mayoral authority creation from November 2014 onwards.
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