Heseltine calls on PM to hand money to regions

Former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine says industrial growth will come when funding is taken out of Whitehall departments and given to Local Enterprise Partnerships. In a report published on 31 October, Heseltine recommends that central government should identify budgets in different departments that support growth, and bring them together in a single funding pot for local areas. This pot could be around £50 billion, which could then be the subject of bids from the partnerships.