In my Viewpoint column last month I argued there was an important tension between a centralised grant-based version of levelling up and real devolution that both levels places up and keeps them levelled up by building real capacity and creating enduring strengths. Levelling up without devolution cannot be successful in the long term.

Sadly, things don't appear to be moving in that direction. The devolution White Paper will now be no more than a footnote in the Levelling Up strategy and we had news this month that the Local Government Association (LGA) considers devolution ‘dead in the water' and will no longer be lobbying for it.