What is England for? Where are its regional economies headed? How is that funded? These are questions our politicians almost never debate in public for the obvious reason it is almost impossible to devise a system of local and regional funding with which everyone is happy, especially at a time of austerity.

Recent weeks have forced the issue of regional fairness back on the table. In future, we will have to confront a series of troubling questions about our over-centralised economy and the result may be a radical shift in the way we spend public money.