Health and social care secretary James Murray was urged to ‘think again' on the Health Bill's plans during questioning by the Health and Social Care Committee last week.

Labour MP for Chelsea and Fulham, Ben Coleman, said: ‘The NHS does not understand how local government in this country works, and the Bill is a fundamental exemplar of this in that you are removing local government, which understands health and which is essential to health, and replacing it with some nebulous, not even existing strategic position - mayors, which don't even exist in some places. You need to think again. Do you accept that you might have got it wrong and you perhaps need to think again?'

Coleman said it was ‘very strange' the Government was removing local authorities from ICBs in London, where unlike combined authorities such as Manchester, boroughs have no formal role in the governance of the Greater London Authority.

Murray said: ‘I definitely recognise there is a difference in terms of the composition of ICBs in different parts of the country and there won't be a single approach that applies everywhere.'

The health and social care secretary said the Government will be publishing guidance on how the policy will apply in different ICB areas, adding he recognised ‘different places in the country have different arrangements'.