Mike Starkie for Mayor of Cumbria

10/09/2026

Mike Starkie welcomes fiscal devolution plans but says Cumbria must get a deal built for Cumbria

Conservative candidate for Mayor of Cumbria, Mike Starkie, has welcomed the Government’s announcement that more tax raised locally could be retained by mayoral areas, describing it as “a step in the right direction” while arguing that Cumbria must secure a settlement designed around its own economy rather than simply copying city regions.

For over a decade, Mr Starkie has argued that more of the wealth created in Cumbria should stay in Cumbria, despite other candidates dismissing the idea.

He said: “I welcome the principle that more of the tax raised and collected in Cumbria should stay in Cumbria.

“That is something I have argued for over the last decade and have emphasised from the beginning of this mayoral campaign, even when other candidates dismissed it.

“At the recent hustings, the Labour candidate said I ‘did not have a hope in hell’ of securing fiscal devolution. It is encouraging that even the Labour Prime Minister now appears to be moving much closer to the approach I have been advocating.”

Mr Starkie said Cumbria should no longer be expected to send so much of the wealth it creates to Whitehall before having to compete to get a share of it back.

“Cumbria should not have to send so much of the money generated here to Whitehall and then queue up to ask for some of it back.

“I have always believed that real devolution is about control as well as cash. If Cumbria keeps more of the money generated here, then Cumbrians should decide how it is used.”

He argued that any fiscal devolution settlement for Cumbria must reflect the county’s unique economy.

“The proposal to return a portion of income tax is welcome, but it will inevitably have far less impact here than it will in major city regions like Greater Manchester, with a working population of almost two million, compared with around 300,000 in Cumbria.

“Cumbria has a much stronger case for retaining a share of the VAT generated here. We welcome around 20 million visitors every year, generating an estimated £900 million in VAT receipts from our tourism industry alone. There is a compelling case for a proportion of that money to stay here and be invested back into the communities and infrastructure that support one of Britain’s most important visitor economies.”

Mr Starkie said his approach was fundamentally different from those proposing new local taxes.

“I am the only candidate who has committed to no mayoral council tax precept and no tourist tax.

“I do not believe Cumbria’s future lies in finding new ways to tax local families, businesses and job creators. My approach is to bring investment into Cumbria, not taxes onto Cumbrians.”

Drawing on his business background and record as Mayor of Copeland, Mr Starkie said fiscal responsibility must remain at the heart of any new powers.

“I have spent years building and running businesses, creating jobs and carrying the responsibility of making sure there was enough money in the bank to meet the payroll.

“I know that every extra cost placed on a business can affect its ability to invest, take on another employee or increase someone’s wages.

“When I was Mayor of Copeland, I balanced the books, kept council tax down, secured major investment and protected, invested in and improved frontline services without simply asking local people to pay more. We did that without borrowing money and without leaving the council with debt.

“That experience has taught me to respect every pound and never forget that every pound of public money first had to be earned by a person or a business.”

Looking ahead, Mr Starkie said his first priority would be using any new fiscal powers to strengthen Cumbria’s economy.

“My first priority would be to use these new powers to improve transport and infrastructure, help businesses grow, create good jobs and give our young people more opportunities to build their futures here.

“But if we get that right - if we grow our economy, attract investment and keeping more of our own tax revenues means Cumbria has more money than it needs to deliver those priorities - then local people should share in that success.

“That could mean investing further in projects that generate even more growth. It could also mean reducing the tax burden on hardworking Cumbrian families by returning money directly to taxpayers.

“The important point is that those decisions should be made here in Cumbria by people accountable to Cumbrians, not dictated by Whitehall.

“This is not about carbon-copying London or Manchester and pasting their solutions onto Cumbria. We need a model built for Cumbria, by Cumbria, rooted in our own economy, our own geography and our own priorities.

“That, to me, is what real devolution means: bringing investment into Cumbria, keeping more of Cumbria’s money in Cumbria and making sure ordinary Cumbrians who work hard, play by the rules and create our success are the ones who benefit from it.”

10/09/2026

Supporting the great work of The Bay prostrate cancer group in raising awareness

10/09/2026

It was great to welcome Mike Starkie, Conservative candidate for Mayor of Cumbria, to G&S this week.

It was a valuable opportunity to hear Mike’s views on the future of business in Cumbria and discuss some of the opportunities and challenges facing businesses across the region.

We always welcome the opportunity to engage with local representatives and share our perspective from a business point of view.

We’d like to wish Mike the very best of luck with his campaign!

10/09/2026

Mike Starkie, Conservative Mayoral candidate for Cumbria, said: “Whether the Government sets a cap or leaves it to mayors is irrelevant to me. My cap will be zero.

“If I’m elected Mayor next year, there will be no holiday tax in Cumbria. Full stop.

“The latest research published by Cumbria Tourism should be a warning to anyone who thinks now is the time to make staying in Cumbria more expensive. Tourism generated £4.7 billion for our economy last year and supports more than 41,000 full-time equivalent jobs — but more than 2,000 of those jobs were lost in 2025 and visitor numbers are now 15 per cent lower than in 2019.

“These aren’t just statistics. They are jobs, careers and opportunities for Cumbrians.

“And the impact of a holiday tax would go far beyond hotels and B&Bs. Visitors spend more than £1 billion a year in Cumbria’s food and drink businesses alone. If people decide to stay for one night less, come less often or holiday somewhere else, that means another blow to our our pubs, restaurants, cafés, shops, attractions and other local businesses.

“And let’s be clear who this holiday tax could hit. It could be a family staying in a local B&B while they visit parents or grandparents in Cumbria, people renting a room for a night, and thousands of large and small accommodation businesses across the county.

“This Government has already hit tourism and hospitality with higher taxes and higher costs. Now it wants another tax on overnight stays, with businesses expected to collect it and a new bureaucracy needed to register, administer and police it.

“Cumbria needs more visitors, more jobs and more opportunities for people - not a holiday tax that makes it more expensive to come and stay here.

“My approach is simple: bring investment into Cumbria, not new taxes onto Cumbrians and Cumbrian jobs. Protect tourism and hospitality jobs - don’t tax holidays.”

10/09/2026

Great day at the County Show, lots of good conversations and many issues raised about the challenges that our farmers and rural economy are facing. I will be on the stand again today, if your at the show pop along to say say hello.

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

Today I am at the County Show at Milnthorpe, if you’re at the show today please come along to the stand for a chat

09/09/2026

My column in this weeks Whitehaven News

In last week’s local media, Westmorland and Lonsdale Lib Dem MP Tim Farron was bemoaning the fact that none of the £39 billion social and affordable housing funding announced by the Government was allocated to Cumbria, and stated that Cumbria deserves better.

Mr Farron and others, though, still fail to acknowledge or take responsibility for the significant part they have played in why Cumbria keeps missing out.

I could not agree more that Cumbria deserves better, and it could and would have done much better had it not been for the actions of the likes of Tim Farron and Cumbrian Labour and Lib Dem councillors, who continually stood in the way and pushed against the tide of devolution and a Mayoral Combined Authority for the last decade.

As I stated back in 2016, when I voted for a Mayoral devolution deal and urged other council leaders across Cumbria to do the same, devolution was inevitable and should have been embraced from the outset. Exactly as I predicted, when they baulked at pioneering devolution, we would eventually sign up as a tail-end Charlie for a far inferior deal, which has now come to pass.

The deal we have signed up to is, in real terms, £90m less than we could have had a decade ago and, over the last decade, we would have been receiving at the very minimum £10m per year. That money is now gone.

The above-mentioned £39bn of social and affordable housing funding has been allocated to areas that are established Mayoral Combined Authorities.

In the last Budget, £13 billion was shared among seven MCAs and a further £902m infrastructure fund was shared by eleven other MCAs. Cumbria was not at the table and, for all Tim Farron’s bleating, we were not at the table because he, along with Labour and Lib Dem council leaders, chose not to be.

The reality is that devolution remains Cumbria’s best economic opportunity for a generation. Businesses across the county have been crying out for political leaders to deliver devolution and create the environment to unleash Cumbria’s undoubted potential.

A Cumbrian Mayor will be able to facilitate the harnessing of the many talents that exist in every sector of the Cumbrian economy, give a platform for their ideas and initiatives to be developed, and give Cumbria a voice in the room where decisions are made.

Businesses from all sectors I have spoken with across Cumbria are champing at the bit to contribute to making devolution the success we know it can be.

If elected Mayor, I will continue to press and make the case I have long championed for full fiscal devolution. That will be a key lever in taking our destiny into our own hands and creating the environment and culture to propel the Cumbrian economy forward for the benefit of all our residents.

As Mayor, I will bring investment into Cumbria, not taxes onto Cumbrians.

08/09/2026

The non doms policy that Labour actually had in their manifesto has backfired as they were warned it would.

They calculated it would result in a £3billion increase in tax revenue and has delivered a £4billion reduction.

Similar with their tax on private schools which they said would pay for 6000 new teachers. It has increased pressure on state schools and we have 2000 less teachers

The economics of the mad house