Barely a week goes past, it seems, without a new report being published making the case for devolution of powers and funding to city regions, to drive economic growth and rebalance the economy.

This month has seen the announcement of Local Growth Deals by government and the release of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report on fiscal devolution, hot on the heels of recent speeches from George Osborne, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg supporting the principles of devolution to drive growth.