The Labour Party has been ‘played off the park' by their Conservative opponents in the devolution game, an influential MP has claimed.

Speaking at the Core Cities mini-summit in Westminster yesterday, Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North and chair of the Commons political and constitutional reform committee, said: ‘I think the Conservatives played the other parties off the park on devolution.'

He also said the appointment of Greg Clark as communities secretary was ‘a superb appointment' that created an impetus to more devolved arrangements.