Analysis: Osborne's shadow hangs over powerhouse conference

A year later, and at this year’s event the debate has moved on, or perhaps backwards, to whether the Northern Powerhouse still exists?

George Osborne, the man who coined the phrase to convey his commitment to strengthening the North economy, has left Government and Lord O’Neill, a longstanding champion of regional economic development, has followed him out of the door.

The Government stilll has a Northern Powerhouse Minister but a Prime Minister who appears reluctant to use the term.

Northern leaders regularly questioned whether Mr Osborne’s rhetoric was matched by substance, but his departure has undoubtedly raised concerns that the North of England has fallen down the Government’s agenda.

The response from council and business leaders on the first day of this conference was to insist that the drive to grow the North faster was a project long before Mr Osborne badged it with a catchy slogan and, they argued, will endure long after his departure from the corridors of power.

There is also a sense that as Whitehall gears up to deal with the challenges of Brexit, the North may get a more sympathetic hearing for its pleas for control over its own affairs from an under pressure civil service desperate to offload responsibilities.

But there is no hiding the sense of unease that the North’s hotline to the top of Government, and with it momentum, has been lost.