Comment: 'The door is open - LLR must walk through it'

The direction of travel in Whitehall is now unmistakable.

No10 North, the "situation room" bringing mayors directly into government decision-making, a Digital Devolution programme, high-performing civil servants seconded straight into mayoral offices - power and capacity are being pushed out to places with a Mayor.

Areas without one risk being left to catch up.

I've supported Devolution since the mid-1990s - through local government, through my time in Parliament, and throughout my work in business since.

It has not always been a fashionable position to hold.

But the underlying argument hasn't changed: decisions taken closer to the people and places they affect are better decisions. What has changed is that Westminster is finally starting to act on it.

Making the case, together

As Chair of the Business Board, I've used that platform to do two things - get stakeholders working collaboratively instead of in silos, and help build a clear, shared narrative about why Devolution matters economically, not just politically.

As one of the national Business Board members, we've led the debate with Ministers on behalf of the 48% of the country still not covered by a mayoral authority.

That's not a rounding error. That's nearly half the country locked out of the settlements, the funding streams and now, it seems, the civil service talent flowing towards devolved regions.

I've made the point directly to Ministers: the UK's industrial strategy cannot afford to ignore our economic strengths simply because we don't have a Mayor.

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland has the manufacturers, the universities, the innovation base, and the ambition. What it doesn't have - yet - is the deal.

Why now matters

With Andy Burnham - a former colleague and someone I know shares this instinct for practical, cross-party problem-solving - now in No10, and Ministers actively building the machinery of devolution, we have a genuine opportunity. Not a guaranteed one. An opportunity that must be taken.

We now need to use the timetable set out in front of us: get through Local Government Reorganisation and get to a Mayoral Combined Authority as quickly as the process allows.

Every month of delay is a month our neighbours in the East Midlands and Greater Lincolnshire pull further ahead - in investment, in influence, in the confidence of businesses deciding where to put down roots.

We need to be in the next tranche. Not the one after. The financial and political benefits of deciding our own future locally don't wait for the slow lane - and neither should we.

Progress isn't linear. But right now, the door is open. The question for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is whether we walk through it fast enough.