LABOUR’S northern metro mayors do not have any more powers than regional agencies set up under Tony Blair, former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has suggested.

The Labour peer said the likes of Andy Burnham, Steve Rotheram and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen are having to deal with budget cuts while being given extra powers.

But he said neither go any further than the resources available to regional development agencies (RDAs) scrapped by the coalition government.

He also criticised the Government’s so-called northern powerhouse strategy, initiated by George Osborne, saying the ex-chancellor was “not interested in the North”.

Lord Prescott said: “The mayor thing was brought in by the Government to think that’s the regional answer. I don’t think it is.

“They are promising you extra money but it’s actually less than what you’ve just had cut off from your budget, you’re no better off, but basically they call it northern devolution.”

Earlier, Lord Prescott criticised his old boss Mr Blair for his frequent interventions in the Brexit debate, saying the former Prime Minister and Sedgefield MP belongs to the past.

He told BBC Two’s Daily Politics: “His age has passed, so has mine, we’ve got a lot of young people coming along. I’ll argue my case and Tony can do his bit but at the end they’re going to make the decisions.

“I belong to the past, so does Tony Blair... There’s a new generation coming on.”

A spokesperson for HM Government said: “We have committed £2.25billion of additional funding to elected mayors in Greater Manchester, Tees Valley and the Liverpool City Region.

“The mayors are already giving their regions a powerful new voice and they have received exciting new powers which they can use to best serve local people.

“We will continue to look to devolve powers where possible, which is in contrast to the regional development agencies which reported directly to Whitehall.”