THE leader of Worcestershire County Council's opposition Labour group has voiced his backing for devolved powers - revealing he supports snubbing Birmingham.

Councillor Peter McDonald has offered a rare olive branch to County Hall's Tory leadership by saying he backs the current strategy to grab more responsibility from Whitehall.

As your Worcester News revealed last week, a bizarre last-minute offer was made to the county council to join the emerging West Midlands Combined Authority.

A letter to leader Councillor Adrian Hardman encouraged all of Worcestershire's councils to join, despite the offer coming just days before politicians in Birmingham and the Black Country submitted their wish-list to Chancellor George Osborne.

Councillor McDonald has been calling for a public referendum in recent weeks, saying any changes over the county's local government make-up must be ran via the people and its politicians first.

To dampen any unrest, a special briefing is now taking place at County Hall next month, which will tie in with a current piece of work consultants KMPG are doing examining the options for Worcestershire to grab devolved powers.

Councillor McDonald said: "I've been expressing my concern about the moves to create a combined authority for some time which could link Worcestershire to Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation.

"My fears were that a new combined authority is a real risk, and that it was happening quietly and without public consultation.

"I've been concerned Worcestershire could be sleepwalking into a new authority, which would change the way we are governed and could undermine the accountability of locally elected representatives.

"The good news is that the leader has agreed that before anything happens people would be consulted through a referendum or some other form of communication.

"This means clearly that the council will now listen to views of the public before making any decision.

"Moreover, the leader states he has no intention of combining with any other authority as he believes the council has the capacity to take on any devolved powers.

"It is truly good news that these important decisions about our future will not be made behind closed doors and without the public having their say."

Councillor Hardman has said he wants the council to grab powers from central Government without tagging along with the Birmingham region.

The West Midlands Combined Authority is still trying to tempt district councils in Redditch and Bromsgrove to sign up.

Mr Osborne has invited councils to submit bids for taking on extra funding and responsibility from central Government, a move prompted by the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum.

To see our story on how Councillor Hardman snubbed the offer from the West Midlands Combined Authority go HERE.