Plans for a "Council of England" featured in a 2022 Labour Party report on constitutional reform by Gordon Brown titled A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy.

[7] The proposed council would be chaired by the prime minister and would include leaders of combined authorities, the mayor of London, representatives of local government and other stakeholders in England.

Earlier, Labour's manifesto for the 2017 general election included a commitment to establish the post of a "Minister for England" within the Department of Communities and Local Government.

[13] Conservative leaning think tank Onward proposed the formation of a National Mayors Association and creation of various Joint Delivery Taskforces involving the UK central government, metro mayors and local authorities in a report titled Give Back Control published in 2022.

An interim mechanism would be put in place for the participation of local leaders in areas of England without a mayoral combined authority.

[27][28] The English Devolution White Paper published on 16 December 2024 stated that the functions and aims of the Mayoral Council are as follows: "The Council will be the key forum for engagement between central government and Mayors on Local Growth Plans, pushing the frontier on devolution, feeding back on how best to deliver on the ground, and identifying opportunities to better coordinate national and local policy.