The Autumn Statement, appropriately, announced after the coldest night of the year, made it hard for counties not to feel frozen out of the devolution announcements. After rightly praising the achievements of Manchester in driving devolution, the chancellor stated ‘the door is open to other cities’.

For counties which have proven time and again that we are ready for more powers and are ambitious to do more to drive local prosperity, this came as a serious disappointment.

With the pressure of the day we can only hope he forgot to add ‘and counties’ at the end of his sentence. We have long stated that, for the recovery to take root across the UK, economic devolution cannot remain the privilege of a few urban areas. Every strategic authority deserves the opportunity to do all it can to support local businesses.

In announcing a review of business rates the chancellor offered the potential for fairer outlook for counties. A more devolved system of local business taxation is vital for both councils and local businesses.