Business as usual from the usual suspects is not what the region needs to revitalise the economy or political culture

Whilst Keir Starmer's plan for political reform may garner media coverage for a day or two, those with long memories may be forgiven for a certain sense of weariness at the essentially cynical nature of a platform which he himself admits is uncertain to actually make it into Labour's election manifesto.

It is not in disputed that decentralisation offers a timely opportunity to rebalance the distribution of political power and give impetus to the rebalancing of the economy. It is welcome that Gordon Brown, the high priest of centralisation and control during his long tenure at the Treasury has belatedly embraced this reality in the form of his 40 point plan, but the Starmer-Brown proposals risk falling short of the radical reform the country and this region needs.

Talk of shifting power away from the "old political establishment" lacks credibility when it is remembered that Labour is exactly that in the North East. The record of the North of Tyne mayor to date in driving economic transformation suggests that giving significant additional powers to elected mayors may not be the silver bullet some appear to think. Business as usual from the usual suspects is unlikely to revitalise the region's sclerotic economy and political culture: moving many of them to a chamber of the nations and regions to replace the House of Lords is unlikely to lead to greater scrutiny or constitutional checks on a Government with an over-large Commons majority.