England’s major cities could become “cradles of economic growth” by nurturing knowledge industries, MPs were told last Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today announced Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Birmingham would be designated “core cities”.

The special status will give the cities’ councils more freedom from Whitehall to invest in and secure money for major spending projects.

Answering an urgent question on the proposals last Thursday, Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark claimed the eight were not being favoured over other cities.

He told the Commons: “The intention is to start a series of negotiations with cities.

“It’s not a definitive announcement of powers that are being invested in one city rather than another.”

He said the plans would boost economic growth with the cities able to focus on creating employment in specific sectors. He added: “They have the great capacity to create private sector jobs. “If you consider that our jobs in the future are likely to come from knowledge-intensive industries, cities are ideally placed to be the hosts of those industries.

“Cities where people are in close proximity to each other, can share knowledge, can share insights - they will be the cradles of growth in the future.”