ON our business pages today, the director general of the Institute of Directors says that it is "nonsense" that the decision-makers in London still hold sway over North-East issues such as skills, infrastructure and economic growth.

This follows on from yesterday's report by the City Growth Commission which called for "devo-met" – devolution to the metropolitan city areas of the north of England.

And it follows on from the visit to the North-East Economic Forum last week of Labour's Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary and one of the party's rising stars. Speaking at Wynyard, she also said that it was a nonsense that Scotland was about to get even greater control over its affairs while its closest neighbour – the North-East of England – was still going to be controlled from 200 miles away in London.

All these interventions show that shifting power to the English regions is an idea whose time has come, as The Northern Echo and other regional newspapers said in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish referendum.

All these interventions also show that it will not mean creating an additional tier of politicians. The existing Local Economic Partnerships and the "combined authorities" – where local councils in an area come together to pool resources – have the potential to draw down powers from Whitehall and use them to better effect locally.

Not all of these interventions are perfect. For example, "devo-met", which got a lot of coverage yesterday, talks passionately about cities including Newcastle and Leeds getting powers to take more decisions locally. But that would leave a patchy hinterland – Durham, Tees Valley and North Yorkshire in our area – which would still be controlled from London despite being book-ended by two "devo-met" areas. That, to use the buzzword, would be a nonsense.

It is clear, though, that the debate has begun, and all contributions are welcome. The political parties must crystallise their thinking in time for May's General Election.