The Greater London Authority (GLA) review is big news, and not just for the capital. The government has promised to give Ken Livingstone significant new powers – over housing, planning, skills and climate change. He has not got everything he asked for, but his new powers will help him to grow London’s economy.

Ruth Kelly is also using the GLA review to send a signal to other big cities that she is ready to devolve real power to strong city leaders – and especially to elected mayors.

So what does all this mean for the local government white paper? Will the document mark the start of a new relationship between central and local government? That is still unclear. Ministers say the white paper will appear “in the autumn”, but there are rumours that it may be delayed until after Sir Michael Lyons sets out his recommendations on place-shaping and local finance. And there are conflicting signals on focus: city regions, local authority leadership, unitarisation and neighbourhoods have all been given top spot at one time or another.

Yet Ken’s wins and losses say a lot about what other city regions – starting with Manchester and Birmingham – can expect. The GLA review had a broad sweep, covering everything from bins to borough plans. Attention focused, however, on four big issues: housing, skills, planning and waste. Ken did well, winning substantial new housing powers, and getting most of what he wanted on planning and skills. He will now have full planning authority over a small number of strategic sites. He leads a new skills and employment board, setting budgets and priorities for workforce development. The mayor also gets stronger power to set strategies in areas like health, culture, and water management.

But he failed get his own way on waste. Though he got stronger waste planning powers, he failed in his bid for a single London waste authority. Yet Ken did get a unique duty to tackle climate change – including tools to cut emissions and promote renewable energy.

It is a good package: strengthening strategic leadership, improving lines of accountability, and reducing institutional clutter. The GLA review says a lot about the state of Whitehall politics. Ken did best on housing and planning – powers devolved from the Department for Communities and Local Government. Other departments were not as keen on giving more control. This has ramifications for other city regions, where bus regulation, workforce development and improving employment rates are hot-button issues.

The review shows that government is not keen on devolving power without clear evidence. Ken failed to get a single waste authority because the experts were not sure it was necessary. City regions elsewhere should ensure their asks to government are substantiated. For Whitehall is trying to work out the relationship between strategic and local authorities, leadership structures, and accountability mechanisms – all at the same time. London’s boroughs are not happy that Ken is getting planning levers. And local authorities in other city regions fear the white paper will move power to city region mayors or executive boards. Mayors do bring clear leadership but Ken has probably been a bit too visible.

While the GLA review sets out Kelly’s pro-devolution credentials, it still leaves a number of questions around her first white paper. We do not know just how much of David Miliband’s double devolution approach will survive. Kelly’s pronouncements on big-city leadership have been far stronger than her comments on neighbourhoods. But can Kelly persuade the DfT, the DfES and others to come on board?

She has also made a number of comments about a shift from “earned autonomy” – with local government looking to the centre – to “presumed autonomy”. This could strip away some of the layers of regulation and targets so despised by town hall chief executives.

A truly radical white paper would offer broad new powers over transport, skills, and regeneration to big city regions, in return for directly-elected mayors. To clinch the deal, ministers must agree the right package of powers and incentives – a package so powerful that it convinces Manchester, Birmingham and the rest to embrace radical change.