She told a Centre for Cities event: ‘We should do more to devolve health.' But added: ‘I don't personally know what that looks like yet.'

Referring to current health reforms, she said: ‘There is a lot to work out when Health England goes.'

While fellow Mayor Oliver Coppard chairs his local Integrated Care Partnership in South Yorkshire, he has no direct powers.

McGuinnes said: ‘I don't want to chair something when I can't tell them what to do. Otherwise, I'm just turning up to a meeting to talk.'

When it came to the possibility of a raft of Reform candidates taking on the mayoralties, she told delegates: ‘We are democratically elected. It's not our choice who sits round that table.'

She added: ‘In my day to day work, I don't think about the party, I think about the best interests of the people of the region.'