Greater Manchester devolution: plan to be outlined by George Osborne

Greater Manchester, which will elect a mayor in two years and take on powers over housing, transport, planning and policing , will become a blueprint for other large cities, George Osborne will say in his first post-election speech.

A Cities Devolution Bill will be in the Queen's Speech later this month.

Mr Osborne is expected to ackonwledge the "old model" of running everything from London is "broken" and has unbalanced the economy.

Last year, leaders of Greater Manchester's 10 councils, which includes Rochdale, agreed to the area's first mayoral election, described by Mr Osborne at the time as "a massive moment for the north of England".

Under the devolution plans, the mayor would lead Greater Manchester Combined Authority, chair its meetings and allocate responsibilities to a cabinet made up of the leaders of each of the 10 councils.

Councils in Greater Manchester currently control about £5bn of public money each year.

This deal is expected to give them control over a further £2bn.