According to the Guardian, Eric Pickles is set to announce increased powers for elected mayors and a push to encourage our big cities like Manchester to hold a referendum and elect a London-style powerful mayor.

It’s not clear whether we would be offered a mayor for Greater Manchester, but as we’re establishing a “City Region” covering Greater Manchester (essentially a way for the ten local authorities to work more closely on transport, waste, policing, the fire service, education, training and inward investment) it might seem logical.

Whether it’s a  good idea is another matter entirely, and would depend entirely on the detail of the powers a mayor would have, how that person would be held to account and what role the local authorities would play.

I’m very sceptical about the idea of an elected mayor, but I could be persuaded if the powers that person had are ones currently exercised by Whitehall (and so we get powers passed down to Manchester) and not those currently held by local authorities like Stockport.

That’s not an “I want the power” issue (as a humble backbencher, that’s not on the cards for me anyway).  It’s about  the best level to get things done and to understand the needs of local people.  Some things are best done at a Greater Manchester level, but far more should be controlled at a council level, or even more local than that – by ward councillors and local community groups.

We’ll find out more details next month, when the Localism Bill is published in November.

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