"Detroit says nothing at all about the limits of localism: In Britain, we have surely reached the very limit of centralism. The core of Whitehall has so many powers it cannot realistically use them effectively. Cities and city regions offer a good basis for a step towards devolution, which would allow (modest) risk-taking by their leaders. City leadership has already worked well in Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds. The London model, with partial devolution, has prospered. Why not allow more experimentation and locally-determined investment."

http://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2013/aug/14/lessons-learned-from-detroit-bankruptcy