Whitehall should devolve greater economic and tax-raising powers to fifteen city areas across the UK, which have proved themselves responsible to do so, a group of senior economists and experts has recommended today.

The latest report from the Royal Society of the Arts' City Growth Commission urges all three main political parties to commit their manifestos to giving greater freedoms and self-governance to city region ‘metro areas' that are capable of shouldering the burden of driving greater economic growth.

Entitled ‘Powers to Grow: City finance and Governance,' the report authors claim radical change for the better could be delivered were there political consensus for the ‘groundbreaking' package of fiscal devolution set out in the report.