Labour has long been an advocate for the devolution of power and money within the English regions. Bristol, the only major city in England outside of London to generate more wealth than it gets back to spend locally, welcomes this. But it is vital that the pre-election rush for a city region deal is properly considered based on local consultation and not on political expedience.

Today’s announcement of a proposed Bristol, Cardiff and Newport city region seems much like the latter. For many in the political and business community in Bristol the news reports were the first we had heard of it. My conclusion is that the proposal is therefore the outcome of one of two potential realities. The first is a pre-election rush to make announcements covering marginal seats such as Bristol North West, although the money for the new M49 junction in the autumn statement was welcome nonetheless. The second, is that our elected mayor has shrugged the responsibility of trying to find a model which works in the traditional Greater Bristol region.

Bristol North West has some of the greatest inequalities within Bristol. You can walk from Lawrence Weston, where I grew up, to Stoke Bishop and within ten minutes you travel from one of the most deprived areas in England and Wales for education, training and skills to an area where 80%-100% of young people get five GCSE’s including English and Maths. You can walk from Henleaze to Southmead and you would be in an area in which you are statistically likely to die 9 years earlier than from where you started. For many young people in the west to north arch of Bristol North West the removal of the educational maintenance allowance, the tripling of tuition fees, and the difficulty of finding an apprenticeship or job wears down the aspirations of even the most confident of people.

Being given the powers and money locally to deal with inner city rail and dodgy bus companies will help people in Bristol North West, young and old, to move around the city more cheaply and efficiently. Couple this with better education and skills opportunities and proper economic planning of the Avonmouth Severnside local enterprise area, which is western Europe’s largest brownfield development site, and you create a mobile, aspirational and educated workforce that works for local people, local business and the local economy.

But by going down the Bristol-Wales route we risk losing an opportunity to work coherently with the significant housing, transport and defence industry developments north of Bristol; as well as the cultural and retail opportunities east of Bristol, in Bath and beyond. Whilst this proposal seems to have a logo and some proposals on rail connectivity, it does not yet seem to have any detail on how an English city region will work with areas within the devolved administration in Wales in any other area of policy.

I fully support the vision of harbouring renewable energy from the Severn estuary; it has one of the largest tidal currents in the world. However, I have grave concerns about rushing through a grab for power from a government desperate to stay in Westminster, without proper consultation and buy-in locally. One of my criticisms of my Conservative opponent has been that her style of politics is based entirely on petitions and press releases. The job of a member of parliament, at least in my mind, is to make sure you get the best deal for your constituency. Bristol North West is not only the constituency I’m running in, it’s my home, and I’ll be the first member of parliament to have been born and raised there if I’m elected in May. A new city region deal for Greater Bristol is likely to be a one-time offer. It can change the fortunes of Greater Bristol and its people for generations to come, but we cannot risk getting it wrong.

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Darren Jones is the parliamentary candidate for Bristol North West

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Photo: Luke Andrew Scowen