The Thames Valley is driving growth. Devolution can turbocharge it.

“Good growth in every postcode” is the Prime Minister’s promise.

It is a goal we support. But if Government is serious about growth, the Thames Valley must be trusted with more control over the decisions that shape it.

Across England, areas are being granted new powers in the hope that growth will follow. The Thames Valley is in a different position. Growth is already happening.

Oxfordshire is home to the University of Oxford, the science campuses at Harwell and Culham, and businesses working at the forefront of research and technology. Oxfordshire generated £23.5 billion of economic output in 2020.

And in Berkshire, you’ll find some of the world’s leading companies in everything from AI to the creative industries, with an average growth rate of 5.5% a year between 2018 and 2022.

READ MORE: Delivering in local government: How Labour is building a better Britain everywhere

We also have one of the most highly qualified workforces in the country, with more than half of working-age residents qualified to degree level or above.

That is why it is so frustrating that many of the obstacles to further growth are not about talent, innovation or ambition. They are about infrastructure.

The A34 is one of the country’s most important freight routes, yet congestion has become a daily reality. The A40 regularly struggles to cope with demand. The A420 faces increasing pressure as people commute across the county.

And while a rail connection to Heathrow Airport from the south and the west has long been discussed, we’ve seen far too little progress. Meanwhile, the train line from Reading to Waterloo is increasingly under pressure from a growing population, but services have become slower and less frequent over many years.

These are not just transport problems.

They affect investment decisions, productivity and economic growth. Every delayed delivery, every missed connection and every unreliable journey carries a cost.

Our economy is changing quickly. The systems supporting it are not. In Oxfordshire this is compounded by unreformed two-tier governance.

The problem is that decisions are still too slow and too fragmented. Businesses do not organise themselves around council boundaries. Investors do not make decisions because of council boundaries. In fact, often it is despite them.

When infrastructure needs upgrading, housing needs delivering or investment opportunities emerge, people expect clear decisions and clear accountability.

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Devolution across the whole Thames Valley would give local leaders more influence over transport, skills and economic development.

The economies of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon are already closely interconnected. People commute, invest and do business across county boundaries every day.

The Thames Valley already attracts investment, supports world-leading research and generates billions of pounds in economic output. We already make a significant contribution to national prosperity.

The way we govern the area has not kept up with the way people live and work.

We have earned the right to shape more of our own future.

The case for devolution is clear. The reason for delay is not.

So end it now and empower this engine of growth to truly deliver for the people of the Thames Valley and the country as a whole.

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