Unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it lacks a strategy for national development to ensure that one city-region does not dominate the national economy at the expense of others. These are early days, of course, for the prime minister. But the prime minister must know it will take time to bed down, beyond this parliament. The active state the prime minister envisages must fill a huge void. Fortunately, we’re being told that, as he travels the land, the prime minister is in listening mode.