Andy Burnham will let mayors keep a slice of income tax and business rates for them to decide how it is spent. The rate of income tax that the public will pay is not going to the change, the government has stressed. ‘For the first time we’re giving mayors a share of income tax so communities directly benefit when their economy grows – passing power out of Westminster and driving growth in every postcode. The Lib Dems warned that devolving tax revenues to mayors would ‘leave behind large swathes of England’ that did not have a mayoral authority. ‘Devolution cannot become a two-tier system where you only get real powers, and access to extra income tax revenues, if you have a metro mayor.