Plans to bring forward a Government White Paper on further devolution of powers to regions across England have been welcomed.

Chancellor Sajid Javid unveiled the move, announced during his speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester.

He told delegates that the Government wanted to give more local powers to local people "to drive investments in the infrastructure and services they know they need.”

Calls for greater devolution of powers – particularly over funding – has been top of the agenda for organisations including the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and Power Up The North, a collaboration between Newsquest – owners of in-Cumbria – and rival publishers JPI Media and Reach.

Cumbria currently had no devolved control.

And the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has bemoaned the lack of action the issue, which also sees areas such as Cheshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire with little or no devolved control, and devolution deals for Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, Tees Valley, Sheffield City Region and North of Tyne also secured before previous Prime Minister Theresa May came into power in 2016.

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “We need further devolution in England and the White Paper announced by the Chancellor is to be welcomed, particularly if it extends to taking more control of existing local spending from Whitehall, as well as retaining taxes raised locally and allowing areas to capture the additional revenues their investments generate.”

Business leaders from Cumbria were among the 100 signatories of the ‘Devo 100’ letter sent to the Government in August, which calls for 100 per cent devolution across the entire Northern Powerhouse region.

They included Barry Leahey MBE, managing director of manufacturer Playdale Playgrounds and chair of the Cumbria branch of the Institute of Directors.

“To achieve the vision of a Northern Powerhouse we need to have collective strategies and voices and a Devo deal would drive this,” he said.

“At this time, we need strong leadership to lobby Government and highlight the strengths of the region. With many voices and requests unfortunately, this currently gets diluted.”

Devolution for Cumbria specifically was one of the top demands from the Power Up The North collaboration, which has called for drastic action from political leaders to “reverse decades of under-investment in key services” in the region and urgent action on issues including a clear plan for the Moorside nuclear site in Cumbria after the original development collapsed in 2018.

Meanwhile, discussions on a new council structure for Cumbria have been drowned out by Brexit.

Devolution for the county – which could see the current seven councils reduced to just one or two – has been on the agenda for a number of years.

While some support a single authority, momentum has been growing behind calls for two, effectively splitting the county in half across the middle.

Elsewhere, Mr Javid also made commitments to help young people onto the career, £29 billion of new roads and plans to bring the living wage up to £10.50 an hour.

"Over the next five years, we will make the UK one of the first major economies in the world to end low pay altogether," he said.

"To do that, I am setting a new target for the National Living Wage: raising it to match two-thirds of median earnings.

"That means, on current forecasts, this ambitious plan will bring the National Living Wage up to £10.50.

"Giving four million people a well-earned pay rise."

Mr Javid also said he would bring down the age threshold for the National Living Wage to cover all workers over the age of 21.