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First, let me congratulate IPPR North for their work on this , as well as their impeccable timing. If ever there was a time to push for action on decentralisation, it鈥檚 now.

[Political content removed] You only need look at how the Scottish Referendum debate has re-energised people鈥檚 interest and engagement in politics, over the last few weeks, to see that this is an idea whose time has come.

Despite their fundamental differences, both the Yes and No camp in Scotland are sending a message that they want more powers. And what a lot of Scottish people on the campaign trail tell me is that they want greater powers for Scotland, whilst also retaining the security and stability of being part of the UK鈥檚 family of nations.

For me, that鈥檚 the best of both worlds. But it鈥檚 a balance I think we need to strike right across the UK, including in England. In many ways, this is the forgotten part of the puzzle. Over the last few decades, we鈥檝e seen a wave of new powers shifting out to every nation of the UK, but less so in England.

Four years ago, in the wake of the terrible financial crisis of 2008, it was clear that this old model had failed. For decades, we鈥檝e had successive governments, from both the left and right, concentrating power in Whitehall and relying too much on the City of London鈥檚 profits to power the rest of our country鈥檚 economy.

Instead of helping our great cities like Sheffield to stand on their own 2 feet 鈥� by driving private enterprise and creating opportunity across every region 鈥� governments recycled the revenues from an overheated banking and financial system, a bit like a sticking plaster: subsidising an unsustainable boom in public sector employment.

This meant that when the City鈥檚 engine went into meltdown, it took the rest of our economy with it.

The facts speak for themselves - for every 10 private sector jobs created in the South under 10 years of the last government, there was only 1 job generated in the North. At the same time, the importance of British manufacturing was allowed to decline 3 times faster than it did under Margaret Thatcher.

When we joined this coalition, my party and I were focused on changing that: rebalancing the UK鈥檚 economy to ensure that every city, town and region has the necessary resources and support they need to succeed.

This included giving more powers and controls back to our local leaders and communities: most critically, to shape their own economic future.

We鈥檝e always believed that the people who live and work in a local community know far more about the strength, character and needs of that area than any minister or official shut off in Whitehall ever could.

When I first launched the City Deals, which have given city leaders further powers to strengthen their area鈥檚 competitiveness, I said that I wanted to fundamentally recast the relationship between central government and our cities 鈥� unleashing an unprecedented transfer of power.

It hasn鈥檛 always been easy. We鈥檙e trying to overturn decades of power grabs and diktats from the centre.

Yet we have succeeded, unlike so many governments before, in starting to deliver real power and control to local areas.

We鈥檝e passed the Localism Act: giving more legal powers to local people, communities and councils to help them do what they think is best for their local areas. We鈥檝e localised business rates, enabling communities to benefit more as their local economy grows. Our Tax Increment Financing Reforms give local authorities the opportunity to borrow funds for vital local infrastructure projects against future business rates.

Building on that, back in the summer, I announced the first of our new Growth Deals. These innovative deals extend the powers that we鈥檝e already given to our cities鈥� leaders more widely across the whole country, with access to a 拢12 billion pot of funding in the coming years.

Here in Sheffield, we鈥檙e already seeing the impact of that work, with ambitious plans to use the city鈥檚 拢300 million Local Growth Deal to create 8,000 jobs, 5,000 homes and training for 40,000 people.

This includes supporting over 拢790 million worth of infrastructure projects such as improvements to the City Centre, boosting transport links and building new housing, as well as creating a new 拢130 million Skills Bank.

Every one of these measures is helping us to hit rewind on those long years of centralisation. Yet, we know, this is just the start of a long, long journey to hardwire localism back in to Britain鈥檚 political DNA.

IPPR North鈥檚 excellent report shows us how much further we could go in the years ahead. With a new consensus now emerging amongst the UK鈥檚 3 main political parties to extend devolution and decentralisation in the future, I believe we can push forward in realising our ambitions for a stronger, fairer Britain.

The reality is that our great cities like Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow and Leeds aren鈥檛 just competing with each other for investment. They鈥檝e also got to stand up against other global cities like Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Madrid and Shanghai.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was in Bangalore and what I saw there was a city ambitious for its future: investing in the infrastructure and people it needs to become the world鈥檚 leading tech city.

In the same way, here in the UK, we need to think about how we can exploit the greater local powers we鈥檝e created to accelerate economic growth across the North. That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e launched our new

This is an open call to local leaders, businesses and experts in housing, transport, planning, science and education across the North of England to answer these fundamental questions: How do we build on the strengths in the North to create an economic core in the heart of the region that can compete with the biggest cities and regions in the world?

All of us have ideas. is full of them and I want to ensure that government can capture and develop them with you. For me, 3 main points stand out: firstly, the need to take an asymmetrical approach to decentralisation. This is what we鈥檝e tried to do with our City and Growth Deals.

Secondly, the report highlights the importance of accountability. I believe this can come in many different forms. It doesn鈥檛 necessarily need to be the introduction of elected city region mayors. I think the best solutions need to be pragmatic and driven by the local people they impact.

Finally, financial decentralisation: we know that there will be no return to the big public spending of the past any time soon, whichever party is in power. As a result, central government has to give local leaders the greater flexibility they need to support their communities in the best way they can during these constrained times.

Over the coming weeks, we鈥檙e holding a series of events across the North to gather people鈥檚 views on these and other issues: culminating in an economic summit to be held in November. I hope to see you all there.

So let鈥檚 start that conversation today. I want to hear your ideas about how we can kick-start and sustain this revival of our great Northern giants.