The mayor was due to be elected in May next year, but the Labour government has announced it intends to delay it until 2028.

The new figurehead was to head up a combined authority with control over a £1.1bn investment fund over the next 30 years, as part of a devolution deal for the two counties.

While the Labour government has agreed the existing county councils will receive some of that earmarked money before the mayor is in post, it is only about a third of what the mayor would have been able to use.

The mayor, heading up a combined county authority, would have been handed £74.8m between 2026 and 2028,........

© Eastern Daily Press