I’m starting to wonder what kind of devolution George Osborne believes in.

I had thought it was to the UK regions. I now think it is just his favourite one.

Thanks entirely to the hard work and ingenuity of West Midlands entrepreneurs, this region has become one of China’s top trade partners. About £4 of every £10 it spends on English-made goods are manufactured here.

How terrifically frustrating that must be for our Chancellor, who just happens to be an MP for Tatton in Cheshire, and who is transfixed with his Northern Powerhouse dream.

So, shortly after learning that Mr Osborne will wave through major projects – as long as they are in the conurbation nearest to his constituency – it gets worse.

China’s president is here, along with Far Eastern money men, and the man who hopes to be our next Prime Minister sees to it that the closest they get to Birmingham depends on the route to Manchester.

Have no doubt, they have every reason to be here. Central to Osborne’s Eastern promise, as highlighted by his recent visit to China along with other cabinet ministers and businesspeople (only those from within the Northern Powerhouse, of course, no chance this ever happens for the Midlands), is to stimulate investment in HS2.

Birmingham is at the heart of HS2. The construction headquarters are here. The college is here. The first phase is here. The second phase is here.

And Chinese investors are loving Birmingham right now. I know because I have met perhaps a dozen of them in recent months. Our problem is not in China. It is in London.

In what other country can a man sitting in the city where infrastructure spending is 24 times that of other parts of the country effectively shut off from 80 per cent of the land he one day hopes to rule over?

This West Midlands has welcomed Mr Osborne's genuine drive to devolve to the regions with open arms, as a real antidote to generations of Whitehall-knows-best.

But Whitehall seemed to know better than the Chinese president when it came to the idea of a stop at New Street.

Birmingham has its public sector problems, Mr Osborne is keen we know that. And it is true.

But he just added his name to our list of public sector problems.