With the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru claiming to speakt the interests of Scotland and Wales respectively, it might be expected that cities in the devolved administrations might play have played a bigger role in the parties’ recent manifestos than their UK-wide counterparts. Yet, this has not always been the case – and much more could be done by nationalist parties to promote economic growth in their urban areas to benefit growth of the wider nation.

So – to what extent do the parties’ pledges affect cities in Scotland and Wales in particular? And how would devolution to the national level impact further devolution to the Scottish and Welsh cities?

Since the SNP formed their first majority in Holyrood in 2011, discussions on cities have been ongoing – but from the perspective of Westminster, getting powers to Scotland has always been the priority.

While in government, the SNP has supported the use of language around city regions and investigated how to make the most of them: they published an Agenda for Cities (revised in 2016); established the Scottish Cities Alliance; and promoted City Region Deals. Six years later, three city region deals (for Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness) have been signed, the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal is expected sometime soon, and three more deals are in the pipeline.

In the recent general election, the SNP has confirmed its commitment to city deals and will campaign to get the UK government to meet the funding requirements included in those deals. But city deals are not the same as devolution. They only offer some powers to local leaders and have not been expanded beyond their initial agreement.

The challenge for Scotland is that the Local Government & Devolution Act only applies to England and Wales: it will be down to both Holyrood and Westminster to make the most of the biggest Scottish city regions in particular by considering new governance models, and the devolution of key strategic powers.

These are important shortfalls the SNP should be mindful of if it is to deliver growth across Scotland. Of course, a national election, rather than a general one, would be the most appropriate place to discuss these issues. But now it’s been confirmed as the third UK party, the SNP should use its influence both in Westminster and in Holyrood not only to bring powers back to the devolved administration but also to unlock devolution to Scottish cities.

If the pledges made for Scottish cities by the SNP are limited, those made by Plaid Cymru for Welsh ones are non-existent.  The party mainly focuses on delivering prosperity across Wales as a whole, without any particular pledge for cities. Scotland and Wales have different devolved powers and economies, and SNP and Plaid have different political relevance, yet the role of cities as drivers of growth is still of value for Wales too. Both Cardiff and Swansea have already secured City Deals, but this should only be the first step to further devolution.

In line with their views on cities in general, the other parties, with the exception of the Conservatives, did not even mention cities in devolved administrations in their manifestos. Labour – coherent with its “devolution where there is appetite for it” approach – simply pledged to establish a Scottish Investment Bank to support development there, but didn’t commit to anything more specific for Welsh and Scottish cities.

Cities in the two nations received more attention in the Conservative manifesto. The party pledged to open a British Business Bank branch in Edinburgh and one in Newport, and to continue the investment in capital and infrastructure projects in the two nations. In addition, the Conservatives have committed to building on the Cardiff Capital Region and Swansea Deals as well as promoting cross-border economic development between the cities of Cardiff, Newport and Bristol.

Being subject to a national parliament on top of the UK-wide one is a double-edged sword for cities in devolved administrations. In principle, this should mean receiving better and more tailored attention, but in practice it often means having a third party to fight for powers with.

The Scottish Parliament only has a handful of cities to deal with, and this should be reflected in better deals for them. But the ‘double-devolution’ process is slowing down the pace for Scottish cities and has led to limitations to the powers they can be handed from Westminster. The Welsh settlement means that cities like Cardiff have more of an advantage, and could even follow the metro mayor route, should they wish to.

National assemblies, both in Wales and Scotland, should be keen not only to bring powers back to their nation. But they should also ensure those powers won’t stop at the state level but go to the cities that can best support their national economic growth potential.

Elena Magrini is a researcher at the Centre for Cities, on whose website this article originally appeared.