West Midlands Combined Authority mayor to be paid maximum of £50k

The region is set to elect a mayor in May next year to run the new combined authority (WMCA), with powers over transport and infrastructure and control of a budget of hundreds of millions of pounds.

It was expected to command a salary in excess of £100,000, but bosses have revealed that a lower figure has been agreed.

Speaking at the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership annual conference, WMCA board monitoring officer Keith Ireland said the mayor's salary was expected to fall between '£40,000 and £50,000'.

The figure falls well short of newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's salary of £143,911.

Mr Ireland added that there were 'slight concerns' that the role would bring 'an unneeded level of bureaucracy'.

An elected mayor was stipulated as part of the deal for the WMCA that was announced by George Osborne last November, despite there being widespread opposition to the role across the region.

Meanwhile Lord Digby Jones has called for party politics to be 'kept right out' of the WMCA, which officially comes into force on June 10.

He said: "Personally I would like to see an elected mayor that is not from a political party.

"I see the position as an ambassadorial role, where the mayor would spend a lot of time outside the region speaking up on behalf of the West Midlands.

"I want to see the mayor kicking ass in London, or in Dubai persuading Tata Steel to put money into our region.

"Can you imagine us having an anti-capitalist mayor looking out for our business interests? There is no way that could be considered to be in the best interests of wealth creation in the West Midlands.

"Please let us not have someone who is tribal and allows themselves to get bogged down with local politics. That is not what the mayor should be about."

Lord Jones says he is coming under 'increasing pressure' from the business world to put himself forward as a mayoral candidate.

"A lot of people are telling me that I would be ideal for the position and it is something that I am giving a lot of thought to," he added.

The precise remit of the role will go out to a public consultation in the summer.

The WMCA is made up of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull, with other councils including Cannock Chase involved as non-constituent members.