Leeds tipped as surprise statutory city-region

There's plenty more budget rumours around today – one of the most interesting being one from David Ottewell that Leeds is in line for winning official city region status tomorrow.

Ottewell, a senior journalist on the Manchester Evening News, takes a keen interest in urban policy issues, is well connected and deserves to be listened to.

Ottewell's tip-off that his home town of Manchester is due for city region status will surprise no-one, but the news that its arch-rival, neighbouring city region of Leeds is to be included is more newsworthy, but seems intuitively correct. Not only will having the two Pennine giants in the package give the announcement weight, the inclusion of Leeds seems to support Regeneration & Renewal magazine's research and subsequent contention that big cities are ahead in the race for new powers.

The rumours keep on coming. The Guardian splashes on the fact that the Chancellor is planning a new fund to build council houses and restart work on stalled projects. Regeneration and housing could better than expected out of this one, but we shall see. I'll be live blogging on the budget tomorrow, and publishing comments from our team of experts as they come in. See you then.

Regional row

Interesting news has reached us on the Government's plans to set up regional select committees. They are intended to give the regions a bigger voice in Westminster and scrutinise public bodies such as regional development agencies. But this week it emerged that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have refused to sit on the committees.

The Lib Dems objected to the fact that the committees were to be structured to reflect the political composition of the UK parliament. Each was planned to include five Labour MPs, three Conservatives and one Lib Dem. But the Lib Dems said that this was not fair in regions such as the South-West, where Labour is the third biggest party.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives oppose the regional committees on principle (in the same way that they object to much of Labour's regional machinery). They say that the committees will duplicate responsibilities already covered by existing select committee and will place extra strain on Westminster resources.

Earlier this week, MPs voted on the membership of the bodies. The result is that each regional select committee will be composed of just five Labour MPs.

So does it matter that the opposition parties are not sitting on the committees?

It some respects it doesn't. Some backbench Labour MPs serving on select committees have been vocal critics of government policy. Dr Phyllis Starkey, chair of the communities and local government select committee and Labour MP for Milton Keynes South West, didn't hold back from attacking the Department for Communities and Local Government in a report earlier this week.

But the lack of opposition members on the committees will raise serious questions about their impartiality. With the first of the committees due to meet next week, this will be a real headache for ministers.