By Jamie Hailstone City councils need to be given more powers to determine how money from central government is spent locally, according to a new government-backed report. The State of the English Cities report, which was published this week, calls for the country’s cities to be given more financial powers and influence, in line with their European and American neighbours. The report said government departments should work together to recognise the importance of cities, which should in turn be given more influence about how public funds are spent in their area. Speaking at the report’s launch, and following the recent drubbing by business and civic leaders in Birmingham of Labour’s flagship policy of elected mayors, local government minister David Miliband reiterated how neither he nor the Government were going to be ‘dogmatic’ about the issue of mayors. ‘The clear lesson from this report is that every city needs strong leadership,’ said Mr Miliband. ‘The Government and I are not dogmatic about how we get that strong leadership. ‘When I was in Birmingham, I was asked whether Birmingham should have a directly-elected mayor, and I said “yes”.’ The author of the independent report for the ODPM, Professor Michael Parkinson, added: ‘There’s a whole menu of options we can go for. I think the really important thing is that leadership matters, and empowered leaders mean better leaders.’ The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, also attending the launch, said cities should be leading the national economy, not following it. ‘Our cities are motoring,’ he said. ‘And now it’s time to change gear.’ The chair of the Local Government Association’s regeneration board, Cllr Chris White, said the report should act as a ‘blueprint for devolution’. ‘Cities perform better when local leaders have greater power to take decisions and innovate. ‘But any new powers should be made available to councils in all areas, not just in the main cities,’ he added. Conservative leader David Cameron joined former minister Lord Heseltine in Liverpool on Monday to launch a Tory cities task force. ‘We already run local authorities in urban areas such as Trafford, Coventry, Bradford and London, and I now want to step up the pace with a new policy focus on our cities,’ said Mr Cameron. j.hailstone@hgluk.com See comment, page 8.