WEST Yorkshire is one step closer to having a London-style mayor in order to secure a raft of new powers from the Government.

Local politicians had been at loggerheads with Chancellor George Osborne over the idea of a 'metro mayor' for West Yorkshire and York, but they now appear to have backed down.

Bosses at the Labour-dominated West Yorkshire Combined Authority today said they would be starting a consultation with local citizens and businesses about whether to accept the deal in order to secure more powers from Whitehall.

Making his first major speech of the new Parliament, Mr Osborne yesterday promised "radical devolution" for cities to allow them to grow their local economies, on the condition they also had a "single point of accountability".

He acknowledged a series of cities, including Bradford, had rejected the idea of having elected mayors in referenda held in 2012.

But he said the prospect of massive devolution of powers and funding could change that view.

Reacting to this challenge, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority chairman, Councillor Peter Box, said: "We were clear in the last Parliament that in the light of people having strongly rejected elected mayors in recent referenda in Bradford, Kirklees and Wakefield, we did not believe this was the model for West Yorkshire and York.

“However, the Chancellor has now made his position clear and we need to consult the local people, businesses and stakeholders of West Yorkshire and York on the governance options that could unlock extra powers and resources from Whitehall.

"We will be asking government to let us have details of what extra powers and resources could be made available to us in return for a change of governance."

Councillor David Green, leader of Labour-run Bradford Council, who had not been a fan of the metro mayor idea, said this was recognition that the "world changed on Thursday".

Cllr Green said the majority Conservative government had a "clear agenda" for devolution to the regions and they had to work within that.

He said: "Every local authority leader up and down the country has to work in the real world, whatever one's personal views."

Opposition Conservative group leader, Councillor Simon Cooke, said he welcomed the progress being made.

He said a body holding devolved powers should be "directly accountable to the people affected", whether that was through an elected mayor or a regional assembly.

He said: "We should be straight up and say the model has worked really well in London. What's to say it wouldn't work really well for us?"

But Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said she had grave concerns that Bradford would end up being overlooked under a metro mayor system.

She said: "The inclusion of York means it is not 'West Yorkshire', it is 'east of Leeds', and that will be to the detriment of Bradford."

Greater Manchester is the first city region to get extra powers along with an elected metro mayor. A much more limited devolution deal was struck for West Yorkshire earlier this year, after the idea of an elected mayor met resistance.