Decentralisation has made something of a return to the political agenda. Ed Miliband, in one of his first major speeches on public service reform since becoming Labour Leader, has pledged that the next Labour manifesto will commit to ‘a radical reshaping of services so that local communities can come together and make the decisions that matter to them.'

Jon Cruddas, head of Labour's Policy Review, subsequently promised to ‘redesign the relationship between central and local government to spread power out to our cities and regions.'