District councils will not be left out in the Government's devolution drive, newly-appointed local government minister Baroness Williams has said.

Speaking today at a conference organised by the District Councils' Network in the City of London, Baroness Williams said the Conservative government had ‘a very ambitious agenda for the next five years' and promised to work with districts ‘in an open, meaningful and constructive way'.

Baroness Williams, who was leader of Trafford MBC from 2004 to 2009, told delegates the Government was elected ‘on a very clear manifesto'.