Whatever else happens in this Parliament there’s a strong probability it will be remembered as the “dawn of devo-max”. The move towards greater local devolution will be at the very top of Greg Clark’s agenda.

And with the potential next prime minister - George Osborne – promising big cities devolved powers, in exchange for directly elected mayors.

It was good to be part of the Core Cities event today, hot on the heels of the election result, launching a new ‘devolution declaration’ for cities and local areas across the country. 

Paired with the chancellors’ announcement the same day on further devolution to the northern powerhouse, this has helped create an opportunity for local areas to seize the moment on devolution.  Much focus and debate has been expended on the governance side of this, with the chancellor appearing now to harden his pre-election position in respect of prescribing a mayoral model - something which was arguably softer under the coalition.