A FOOL returns to his folly as does a dog to its vomit.Thus it was that George Osborne used the first speech of the new parliament yesterday to yet again — very sketchily — outline his plans for “radical devolution” for regions of England.

Plans under the Cities Devolution Bill will help to implement the so-called “northern powerhouse” — or should that be “poorhouse” — announcement he made last time round.

Cities would be given power over local transport, housing, planning, policing and public health — all the things the Tories have already wrecked.As usual with Osborne, the devil is in the detail, of which there was characteristically none.

Instead he chuntered: “The old model of trying to run everything in our country from the centre of London is broken.”

Translation: “We’ve had enough of you uppity bloody northerners.”And he continued: “It’s led to an unbalanced economy.

It’s made people feel remote from the decisions that affect their lives. It’s not good for our prosperity or our democracy.”

Translation: “We’ve tried hounding and starving you to death and frankly we’ve run out of ideas, so it’s your turn to mess things up.”

As always there was a caveat, meaning that devolution must go hand-in-hand with the establishment of an elected mayor.

So, on the one hand, greater control over the running of your region, but on the other, the person making the decisions is going to be another Boris Johnson.

There is a reason why the position of mayor is purely titular in most cities.

It is traditionally a sop given to the most dim-witted member of a party to keep them out of the way for a year or so — a bit like being Deputy Prime Minister. It keeps them happy swanning about in their robes and chain, opening fetes and the like while they leave the real business to others.God knows what will happen if you start giving them powers.

And as if that were not stark warning enough, Osborne’s speech came on the day that MSPs reacted with indignation to the draft Scotland Bill, which was supposed to devolve more powers to the country.

They said that it did not meet “the spirit or the substance” of the cross-party agreement.

New parliament, same old Tories.