THE leader of Worcestershire County Council is calling for a huge transfer of powers from London - insisting it's time to grab George Osborne's "English revolution".

Councillor Adrian Hardman has urged the Chancellor to go all the way with his promise to roll out decision-making to local areas.

During a speech on Thursday Mr Osborne said he was serious about allowing Britain's regions to run their own affairs, with elected mayors presiding over their own budgets and powers.

The offer to counties like Worcestershire is less clear than major cities, but council chiefs in the county have been preparing for some months for it.

Councillor Hardman said: "It has been understood by the Government that there's a distinction between the major cities, and counties like ours.

"What they are talking about now is devolution to cities but in among that you've got areas like ours where you've got a city in a county, think of Norwich with Norfolk, Chester, these areas are like Worcestershire.

"We are more multi-layered. We're a long way from London and I want to run our own skills agenda, our own transport policy, I want more control over business rates."

The county council started talks earlier this year with the districts over some sort of new combined over-arching authority, negotiations which will continue over the summer.

Councillor Hardman is also taking part in a Government briefing in July about what Mr Osborne's offer means for areas such as Worcestershire.

Elsewhere, Worcester City Council leader Councillor Simon Geraghty said he was sceptical about an elected mayoral deal in return for more powers.

"The direction of travel overall is something I support strongly, the country is far too over-centralised," he said.

"Clearly, the Government is pressing ahead with its devolution of powers and the difference of opinion may be about elected mayors.

"I don't think the public have an appetite for it and I don't think more politicians is the answer, so we'd need to raise that.

"He's laid it out for large metropolitan areas and as a county, we now need to take time to reflect upon what it means for Worcestershire."

Mr Osborne has already convinced the 10 councils in Greater Manchester to come together in a combined authority under the leadership of the first 'metro-wide' elected mayor outside of London, with elections due to be held in 2017.

The new Government is drawing up a Cities Devolution Bill as part of the Queen's Speech which will expand on the idea.