A new poll has found a majority of voters in the north want to see more government powers handed over to "local communities".
The poll by the Effective Governance Forum (EGF) group revealed 80 per cent of respondents wanted their community to have more control over how their council delivers local services.
It also found 61 per cent would be more likely to vote in local elections if councils could make more decisions in their areas.
The EFG group has said the poll backs its new report, titled The Effective Decentralisation of UK Government, which calls for a shift of power from the UK's "over-centralised, London-based administration to local government".
The group is calling for councils to run major services including policing, health, education, economic affairs and transport, and should have tax-raising powers to provide them.
Its co-author Tim Knox said Westminster and Whitehall were "a centralised system that avariciously hogs power and impersonally imposes solutions on distant communities, blind to their real needs".
He added of councils having increased powers: “Local political parties will be able to offer manifestos for real change in their communities. They will then live or die by the delivery of their promises. It will be direct and transparent."
