Wigan MBC leader Lord Peter Smith is to contest the post of interim mayor of Greater Manchester with the area's police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd, it has emerged.

The interim mayor will be appointed by the area's individual council leaders in late May and assume the role from June – holding the position until the inaugural direct elections for Greater Manchester mayor take place in 2017.

Greater Manchester's ten constituent authorities agreed to chancellor George Osborne's insistence on having a directly-elected mayor as part of the pioneering Combined Authority Growth Deal negotiations - which were finalised last November.