City-regional mayors could come back on the agenda under a Conservative government, according to Lord Heseltine. The peer, who leads the Tory party's cities taskforce, originally suggested the idea of London-style mayors for city regions such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds in his 2007 report. But a Conservative policy paper last month backtracked on this idea, opting only for support for mayors with powers over existing city council-wide areas. However, Heseltine has not lost faith in the possibility the region-wide mayors may yet become reality. The former deputy prime minister said: ‘My experience is that the politics of changing local government is extremely difficult and you must focus on what you can do to achieve results in a short period of time. ‘But the party has come forward with the green paper and it is open to wider discussion. That is the point of it.' In his role as head of the cities taskforce, he must draft the question for mayoral referendums, which the Tory Party plans to hold in England's 12 largest cities.
