Heseltine: London has sucked power from English cities

With just weeks to go before the Budget, there is some debate about whether there is any room this time to deliver growth.

Lord Heseltine, the prime minister's adviser on economic growth, unveiled radical proposals last year for an industrial policy, which - among its 89 proposals - called for £49 billion to be moved from central government to the English regions to help local leaders and business.

In October Lord Heseltine said there was "an urgency" about stimulating growth. Chancellor George Osborne promised to "study" the proposals

Speaking to the Today programme on Tuesday, Lord Heseltine said: "The essence of my report is that it isn't a single list of two or three things, it is a culture.

"The culture shift is to recognise that if you really want to change the performance of this country, a very large number of people and organisations have got to perform better, and that's very uncomfortable."

He added: "If you have a system, which we do in this country, which is very largely dominated by London, over a hundred years we've gradually sucked power away from the English cities that made this country what it was."

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday 5 March 2013.