A SINGLE ‘metro mayor’ to rule part of Yorkshire moved a step closer thia week after local leaders bowed to pressure from George Osborne.

But authorities in the North-East are still holding out against the Chancellor’s demand, one leader describing it as an “impossible hurdle” – even with the promise of radical devolution in return.

The different responses came after Mr Osborne pledged a Cities Devolution Bill in this month’s Queen’s Speech, to enact a devolution deal for Manchester – and other areas that chose to follow.

The rewards could be extensive powers over transport – including to run bus services – planning, housing, the police and to integrate health and social care budgets.

City-regions could also win an ‘earn back’ deal, allowing them to retain huge tax revenues from economic growth, perhaps to fund transport improvements.

But, in return, they would have to agree to a metro mayor, with an election as early as 2017 – a shake-up that would be imposed without a referendum of local voters.

That mayor would rule the ‘North-East Combined Authority’ of Durham, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Northumberland councils, a vast area of more than a million people.

Mr Osborne is also keen to talk with the five Tees Valley councils – Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.

In his speech, the Chancellor was crystal clear, saying: “We will transfer major powers only to those cities who choose to have a directly elected metro-wide mayor.”

Within hours, the West Yorkshire authorities performed a U-turn, abandoning their long opposition to a single ‘Boris Johnson-style’ leader and announcing they would “consult” local people.

A metro mayor there would rule Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield – and possibly as far as York, which is an associate member.

Officially, the North-East Combined Authority has a neutral stance on the issue of a metro mayor, while insisting it should not be imposed from London.

But Simon Henig, Durham’s Labour leader, has suggested it is unrealistic for one individual to run “an area from Newton Aycliffe to Berwick, which must be about 100 miles”.

And yesterday, Newcastle’s leader Nick Forbes, speaking at a devolution event in London, accused the Chancellor of putting up “unnecessary and impossible hurdles”.

Later, he said: “I have got serious questions that need to be answered about how a mayor covering the area from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newton Aycliffe would have political legitimacy.

“The Chancellor hasn’t visited Newcastle once to talk about devolution and I would like him to come and see the great potential and opportunities here that could be stifled if he rigidly insists on a directly elected mayoral model.”

Paul Watson, chairman of the Association of North East Councils and leader of Sunderland City Council, said plans to hand big cities more powers had “not been discussed much less agreed by regional leaders”.

But Mr Osborne said: “There’s a reason why almost every major world city has an elected mayor. It’s a proven model that works around the globe.

“It’s a powerful point of accountability - a person vested with the authority of direct election. It makes the devolution of multi-billion pound budgets, and powers from policing to housing possible.”