George Osborne to announce 'home rule' for Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds Mr Osborne wants to create a northern economic "powerhouse," including a new high speed rail plan for the north. A policy "summit" will be held on Thursday in Leeds to gather together hundreds of experts and business leaders from the North in an attempt to generate new plans for devolution. Ideas will be discussed among the 300 delegates and voted on during the day to produce a new plan for the future of the North. Mr Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is backing the summit and said details of the self-rule plans for Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester would be announced in the coming weeks. The great cities of the North have been ignored for far too long. It is time to give these cities London-style powers. What is good enough for London, is good enough for the similarly great cities of the North," he said. To show that the Coalition is serious, we will be setting out how we intend to devolve power in the coming weeks. It will start with a package for Greater Manchester that I have been working on with the Chancellor and will soon be followed by powers handed to the Leeds and Sheffield city regions. I've always been clear that real devolution means more control over money. While there isn't extra money the Government can find for these cities, this go ways beyond the powers that have already been secured for them during this government. We can give them much more control over their own budgets and, therefore, over their own decisions and destinies. Ministers are prepared to offer other parts of the country more control over their own economies in further plans in the future. "The Coalition Government's door remains open to all parts of the country and I will strive for further devolution to others towns and cities in the remainder of this Parliament," Mr Clegg said. A senior Lib Dem source added: "It's safe to say that the North will be put right at the heart of the Autumn Statement. The Lib Dems and the Tories may be disagreeing on a lot of things at the moment, but the transfer of powers to the major cities of the North is something that still very much unites the Coalition Government. The Tories have been especially keen to give more power to Manchester, while the Lib Dems are said to have argued strongly for extending devolution to Leeds and Sheffield, where Mr Clegg is an MP.