The Secretary of State has considerable powers to trigger a mayoral referendum under the Localism Act.

He will make immediate use of his ability to ‘require every authority or a particular description of authority to hold a referendum on whether to adopt a particular form of governance’, by making orders for mayoral referendums in the eleven largest English cities, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Wakefield, Coventry, Nottingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Leicester, originally included in a group of 12, has since elected a mayor.