Chair of the communities and local government Committee, Clive Betts, has railed against the Government's unwillingness to consider devolving to English city and county regions the same tax-raising powers granted to Scotland and Wales.

His comments follow today's publication of the official Government response to his committee's report ‘Devolution in England: the case for local government'.

In its response, the Government ducked the issue of granting to English regions the same fiscal devolution handed to the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – despite the fact Birmingham and Greater Manchester have larger economic output than Wales or the fact London has a larger GVA than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.