A chorus of approval greets the return of the statesman who forced effective devolution on the Thatcher government
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Lord Heseltine receives the freedom of the Liverpool from the Labour city council in March. It was richly deserved. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Lord (Michael) Heseltine has a special place in the heart of the Northerner; indeed he's practically our patron saint.
How good, therefore to see him making headlines with another call for action on genuine regional devolution, of the sort which made his influence so important to the north in Margaret Thatcher's years.
His review of competitiveness, No Stone Unturned, laments the abolition of the regional development agencies and calls for their successors such as the City Regions and the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships to be beefed up, not just with money (though that is fundamental) but with powers and responsibility as well. You can read Michael White's largely approving take on the suggestions here, and a more sceptical analysis from Karel Williams of Manchester Business School here. Williams makes good cautionary points, but Heseltine is surely a vast improvement on everything else around which has some chance of acceptance by the current government.
Here's some regional reaction to be going on with, universally approving. James Ramsbotham chief executive of the North East Chambers of Commerce says:
Lord Heseltine is spot-on to say the UK needs to have a relentless focus on competitiveness, and is spot on to say that real competitiveness requires all parts of the country to fulfill their potential.
We firmly believe the North East economy is a huge asset that could and should be developed further. That requires national policies that take better account of regional differences, and more local control of our own destiny.
It would be a huge missed opportunity if the response to this important report is to get mired in a lengthy debate over reorganising institutions. We need in the region to quickly get on with tackling the issues of infrastructure development, better procurement, swifter planning and growing exports which Lord Heseltine rightly identifies.
The Liberal Democrats failed to ride to the rescue of the RDAs; and it is no doubt true that regionalism does not set the electorate alight, athough it should. But here's Tim Farron applauding unstintingly from his Cumbrian constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale:
The report produced by Lord Heseltine advocates what many of us locally have been calling on for years. There is no one in Whitehall who will be able to understand how money to help the local economy should be spent in Cumbria, better than Cumbrians
Many people have claimed that this is a critical report of the economic plan the Government has put together so far. However I see this as an opportunity to extend the work already being done to hand more power back to local people, local authorities and local bodies. Ensuring the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership has more power to decide how money should be spent in our local area would be a much needed step forward for our county.
And finally, for now, the chair of Leeds City region's LEP, Neil McLean says this:
Lord Heseltine's report is includes some bold, transformative proposals that would be a step-change in enabling places like Leeds City Region to take charge of their own economic destiny. The devolution of real powers and significant, flexible budgets to LEPs would cement the progress we have made with our City Deal, with future investment in all areas key to growth driven by local decisions and following local priorities.
In the Leeds City Region we would also be confident in facing Lord Heseltine's radical proposal of a competition between LEPs for this devolved funding. Whether or not Government embraces that, I urge them to respond positively to the thrust of his recommendations to give LEPs extra flexibility and firepower to deliver on our ambitions.
