County council leaders have welcomed the requirement for newly-devolved local authorities to have directly-elected mayors being dropped.
Simon Edwards, director of the County Councils Network, said all three main parties had ditched the condition in their manifestos.
He said the network had long argument that the requirement was ‘arbitrary, unnecessary, and unwanted by county residents’, and dropping it would remove ‘a major blockade in driving down powers to rural England.’
‘Our members look forward to working with whichever government is in charge on a new chapter for devolution that genuinely empowers England’s counties based on the strong local leadership and county geographies already in place.’
Mr Edwards added: ‘CCN also welcomes the three main parties’ commitment to address local government funding concerns, and we will continue to advocate a fairer funding deal for counties, based on current and future demand for services.’
