Elected mayors outside city-regions

Directly-elected mayors are to be introduced in a number of city-regions under ‘devolution deals’ agreed between those city-regions and the Government. The first ‘devolution deal’ was announced by the Government and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in November 2014. More recently, deals have been agreed with predominantly rural areas: East Anglia, Greater Lincolnshire, and the West of England (Bristol). As of June 2016, devolution deals with eleven areas have been agreed. Once a deal document has been agreed and published, each council involved must then itself approve (or ‘ratify’) its participation in the deal.