Mr Gove said: “Mayors work. They can convene, corral, and champion. They can innovate and invest. At their best, they provide the strategic economic leadership every area needs. And they are known – so are accountable, and therefore enable communities to take back control of their future.”

The proposals include giving metro mayors control of 1p in every pound of income tax to be invested locally along with the ability to bring in tax in their regions.

There would be new powers to set the prices of tickets on the railways and timetables. Metro Mayors would also have a formal role working with the British Business Bank on international trade.

West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris said: “From Brunel, to Concorde, to Wallace and Gromit, our region is amazing and local people have wonderful expertise and pride in our communities.

“Metro Mayors could be transformational but we need London-style powers otherwise we will remain stuck with local government bickering as strategic, long-term projects are delayed and sacrificed. This Gove backed report is a step in the right direction suggesting for example mayors would get new powers to bring in money without requiring a majority vote on combined authority boards.

“Of course we also need to look at new powers to get that money spent. Delivery is what local people need and deserve.

“True devolution means trusting directly elected mayors with genuine powers to deliver and trusting voters to chuck us out if we don’t. This report is a very important contribution to that debate.”