Plans to give town and cities across England London-style powers to regulate public transport was at the centre of Labour's launch of its campaign for May's local elections.

To drive the point home, the party brought a traditional red Routemaster bus from the capital to Leeds where deputy leader Harriet Harman was joined by a quartet of other shadow cabinet members plus Labour council leaders.

Shadow Transport secretary Michael Dugher outlined the party's plans to end bus deregulation saying Labour would devolve and reform subsidies.

He said: "If regulation is good enough for London, it should be good enough for every other region too."

Shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna told an invited audience at The Tetley Gallery how Labour would deliver the biggest devolution in England for 100 years.

Mr Benn pledged to give back £30 billion of funding to the regions from Whitehall over five years.

Ms Harman said: "This election is a choice between the Tories' failing plan and Labour's better plan for working people.

"Labour understands that Britain only succeeds when working people succeed and devolving power is key.

"Labour brought devolution to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London and today we pledge to continue on this journey to devolve power to England.

"We will reverse a century of centralisation by giving back an unprecedented £30 billion of funding from Whitehall, backed by new powers to create the jobs, skills and opportunities for this generation and the next."

Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was not at the launch, said: "Labour will create regional powerhouses in every corner of the country.

"It will bring devolved powers in England closer to those enjoyed by Scotland and Wales.

"Devolution from Whitehall is vital if we are to create the jobs needed for a truly national recovery. We want to give every city and county region in England the potential to take greater control over their destiny.

Conservative Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Conservatives in Government have scrapped Labour's unelected regional quangos, and empowered local councils to support jobs and growth.

"Under the last Labour government, council tax more than doubled whilst frontline services like bin collections were halved."