Any summer wobbles in the Theresa May government about the virtues of the Northern Powerhouse were finally steadied with the publication last week of a Northern Powerhouse Strategy, released alongside the Autumn Statement. Despite having four key themes – connectivity, skills, enterprise and trade – it is as much an anthology of past funding commitments and ongoing concerns as a strategy, but it builds on the more nebulous ideas that predated it.

The big question with any strategy is who will drive it forward? The Government commits itself to continuing engagement with LEPs, businesses and combined authorities but there is a vitally important line in the introduction of the document where it rightly states the strategy can’t be delivered by government alone.