MERSEYSIDE is aiming to mirror Manchester and take full control the county's multi-billion pound health budget.

Chancellor George Osborne said today the £6bn health and social care budget would be taken over by the Greater Manchester region's councils and health groups.

The plan would see local leaders and ultimately Greater Manchester's new directly elected mayor control how the cash is allocated.

Leader of the Merseyside Combined Regional Authority, Cllr Phil Davies, said talks are already taking place with senior civil servants to follow suit.

Councillor Davies, who is also leader of Wirral Council, said: "Having control over the health budget is one of the key components in our discussions to see more power devolved to Merseyside.

"Talks with civil servants took place in London last week to include health as part of our devolution package in a similar deal to that being offered to Manchester.

"There are still a few question that need to be answered about how councils will deliver such a massive commitment, but the more decisions that can be made locally, where patients live, has got to be good.

"It would give more responsibility to locally-accountable and democratically-elected councillors rather than having important decisions made by faceless civil servants in London."

The Manchester region has already accepted the creation of a powerful "metro mayor" in return for taking over responsibility for transport, skills and housebuilding and the right to recoup some cash generated by growth.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority eventually hopes for full devolution of all £22 billion of public spending in the city.

But any move to combine health budgets - at present controlled by NHS England - with councils' existing social care duties had been thought to be some way down the line.

A new board will be created to distribute funding and take decisions in areas such as personnel, regulation, information-sharing and NHS buildings.

It would work closely with existing clinical commissioning groups of GPs.

Mr Osborne has hailed extended powers for cities as a key part of efforts to create a "northern powerhouse" to rival London economically.

He said it was a "really exciting development."

Richard Humphries, assistant director of the King's Fund think tank, said a full transfer of responsibility would be a reform "on a breathtaking scale" - but could pose serious risks.

"If the plan is to take the money away from clinical commissioning groups and NHS England and to give it to local government, that, on the range of options to achieve integration, is on the nuclear end of the spectrum and raises all sorts of questions and risks," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.