The completion last weekend of Theresa May's reshuffle with the confirmation of the junior ministers in her new government ends uncertainty on the one hand but opens a raft of questions on the other.

Will the pace of devolution under new communities secretary Sajid Javid accelerate or slow? Will the commitment to business rate localisation remain? Is the Northern Powerhouse and regional policy still within the remit of the Department for Communities and Local Government or shared with the new department of business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS)? Does the end of George Osborne's pledge to run a budget surplus by 2020 mean less pressure on public spending? Will Brexit negotiations so dominate politics for the next two years that there will be no room for major policy shifts such as the reorganisation of local government finance?