In the first of a series of articles on what the next government could learn from the Lyons Review, Jonathan Werran suggests fiscal freedom could unlock growth to bring in more cash for the Treasury.

The case for whether hindsight is a fine thing remains debatable. Certainly, at the time of Sir Michael Lyons' in-depth inquiry into local government in March 2007, nobody beyond a small circle of financial engineers knew anything at all about credit default swaps and the gaming of the US mortgage industry that would set in train the credit crunch and 2008 financial crisis.