The tantalising prospect of a north of England with the power to raise its own taxes has been dangled in front of a Brexit-weary electorate by Northern Powerhouse minister, Jake Berry. But are Mr Berry’s proposals – which he says are his own views rather than Government policy – the right solution for the region?

The North has an economy larger than those of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which all have tax raising powers. Mr Berry was reported in the Sunday Times saying that, with all this economic growth, ‘it is time for the Government to consider a department for the north of England, with its own secretary of state’.