Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)
Regional mayors will be created in every part of England under Labour plans to reduce the power of Whitehall.
The 12 existing regional mayors, also known as metro mayors, include Sadiq Khan in London, Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Ben Houchen in Tees Valley.
Labour now wants to ensure that every part of the country has its own powerful leader to represent it on a new council of nations and regions, alongside the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
They see this as a vital step towards giving English regions more control of health, housing, employment support and other policies.
It means changing existing rules which require regional mayors to serve an area of at least half a million people, which effectively excludes rural areas without a city nearby. A Government white paper will be followed by an English Devolution Bill due in the second half of 2025.
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At least two new mayors are already due to be elected next year, to represent Greater Lincolnshire and the Hull and East Yorkshire region.
Ministers hope to begin talks next with local council leaders in Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire about creating mayors.
The most rural parts of the country will be last in line for the creation of mayor-led regional authorities, partly because the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is still considering how smaller district councils can be included in the structures.
Sadiq Khan is the highest-paid Metro Mayor with a salary of £154,963, while Andy Burnham is paid £114,000.
Speaking to council leaders during Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool last week, local government minister Jim McMahon said the Government will create “a new relationship for England as a first among equals with its partners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
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He said: “We are determined to see a roll-out of more mayoral combined authorities, so that England is represented.”
Mr McMahon said local and regional government would deliver Labour’s five “missions” to secure the highest sustained economic growth in the G7; to cut energy bills and deliver more zero-carbon electricity by 2030; to halve serious violent crime; to improve childcare and education systems, and to improve the NHS in order to increase the survival rate for the biggest killers
He said: “The towns and the cities that make up this country are the foundation stones of rebuilding trust with the British public, so they believe that politics can make a difference and it matters.
“We can’t do that from the centre. We can send out the messaging and the tone.
“If people feel their area is well cared for, they feel safe, they feel secure, they feel confident about the future and proud of the place that they live, then that will be the barometer on which they measure the Government.”