While Labour is the chief architect of England's devolution settlement – following the creation of the Greater London Authority in 1999 and the legislation that went on to create strategic authorities – it was the Conservatives that made the most progress. Labour has set out to rectify this through its English Devolution White Paper and it marks a clear evolution from the Conservative's approach.

The Conservatives prioritised a deals-based approach to devolution, where autonomy was ‘negotiated'. That was supported by investment in a series of short-term ‘retail' interventions, such as through investment in high streets, which in theory was intended to make the agenda ‘seen and felt'. In practice, they failed to meet the demand for change.