Conservative growth guru Lord Heseltine has claimed the West Midlands is next in line to strike a combined authority growth deal with government.

Lord Heseltine, author of the coalition's No Stone Unturned growth report, said a transfer of powers from Whitehall to the proposed Greater Birmingham Combined Authority area – expected to comprise Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton – would follow in the wake of the Greater Manchester agreement to devolve funding and investment powers.