As the North East Combined Authority devo deal is teetering on the edge of collapse, the sector is preoccupied with where the new government will stand on the devolution agenda as a whole and, more specifically, about mayors.

As ever, we are a sector obsessed by powers and structures – and as editor of The MJ, I am more guilty than most of local government navel gazing – but devolution has brought to the fore the need for a rethink about where power lies.