Heseltine wants business cash in local hands Lord Hesletine says he wants to reverse a century of centralisation that has led to 'functional monopolies' and sprawling London quangos More than £58bn of funding for business support should be stripped from Whitehall and placed in local hands under a radical overhaul of the British state to be proposed on Wednesday by Lord Heseltine. In a report that contains pointed criticisms of the government, the Tory former cabinet minister urges David Cameron, the prime minister, to send out an "unequivocal message" that he takes growth seriously and has a credible strategy. Lord Heseltine who was asked to write a sweeping economic review by Mr Cameron, writes that he frequently hears complaints the UK "does not have a strategy for growth" and business leaders had a "powerful appetite" for a stronger vision. While there have been Treasury growth plans, he writes, "put crudely who knows of them?" The veteran peer will call for "war psychology" to deal with the economic crisis and will demand an end to ministerial uncertainty on crucial issues such as energy and aviation. The most ambitious proposal is that 59 funding streams should be placed in a single "pot" to be bid for by local enterprise partnerships. The money includes all European funding as well as schemes ranging from flood defences to the work programme and adult skills. The peer wanted to reverse a century of centralisation that had led to "functional monopolies" and sprawling London quangos, he told the FT. Ministers including George Osborne, the chancellor, are sympathetic to devolving funding further to foster greater local decision-making. But there are questions over the ability of the LEPs, loosely formed clusters of councils, to take on such big responsibilities - and what would happen to areas that lost out in the bidding. In the report, "No Stone Unturned" - which has 89 recommendations - the peer advocates a new group based on the national security council to sharpen the government's economic focus. The new body, the National Growth Council, would be headed by the prime minister and include Whitehall non-executives such as Lord Browne, the oil veteran. The peer said that current structures did not enable the government to "work together coherently" on economic strategy. Lord Heseltine seeks to avoid criticising ministers but his report warns that "it takes too long for decisions to be made" by the government with a tendency to "kick difficult questions into the long grass." Ministers will back some of the peer's ideas such as putting business people on school boards. Lord Heseltine also calls for a new Development Corporation for the Thames Gateway, a bolstering of chambers of commerce and a further cull of quangos.