Rallies will take place across Greater Manchester today demanding a referendum on government plans to impose an all-powerful mayor to govern the region and decide its future.

A petition is backed by Manchester People’s Assembly and Greater Manchester Association of Trade Union Councils (GMATUC).

It is being launched simultaneously in Manchester city centre and the communities of Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Trafford, Salford, Leigh and Ashton-under-Lyne.

Controversial plans place administrative power in the hands of a directly elected mayor rather than the 10 local authorities which currently govern Greater Manchester.

“We think the people of Greater Manchester should have the right to have their say on this or any other proposed changes, welcome or otherwise, to the way we are locally governed, before any such changes are implemented. It’s as simple as that,” said GMATUC’s Stephen Hall.

“The ‘Greater Manchester Agreement,’ or ‘Devo Manc’ deal as it has been dubbed by the media, does not provide for this, but rather does the exact opposite, the entire so-called ‘devolution’ package being conditional on the imposition on the people of Greater Manchester without any reference to their views on the subject whatsoever.”

He added: “This is something which, other than in one of Greater Manchester’s 10 local authority areas, has been either directly rejected by voters or by local councils themselves for their own areas.”