LIVERPOOL’S bid for dramatic extra spending power – at the heart of an official "city-region" – will be thrown into confusion today, when the Government puts the plans on hold.

Ministers will sign a "multi-area agreement" (MAA) with seven areas of England, allowing their councils to pool budgets to provide more muscle to deliver plans for regeneration and economic growth.

In many of the areas, a cross-boundary "super cabinet" of leading councillors will be formed in the biggest shake-up in local decision-making since the 1974 reorganisation of town halls.

But the six councils in the proposed Merseyside city-region – Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton – will be placed in the slow lane of the flagship devolution process.

The Mersey Partnership (TMP), which brings together the six authorities, will enter into detailed negotiations with government officials ahead of a fresh look at its proposals in the autumn.

TMP hinted at "governance and accountability arrangements not in place", but insisted there was nothing suspicious about the delay.

Specifically, Dave Moorcroft, its director of economic development, denied any connection with recent disputes between the councils – most notably over Everton’s stadium plans.

Mr Moorcroft said: "It was never a race to get this in place by the summer. We are simply not in a position to submit all the details to the Government.

"Our MAA covers employment and skills, and economic development and renewal. We have made significant progress, but we still need to get the governance and accountability arrangements in place to deliver it.

"It’s not that the councils can’t agree, or connected in any way to the stadium proposals – they are separate issues."

"We were well underway with the MAA when the stadium proposals emerged."

A spokeswoman at the Department for Commun- ities and Local Govern- ment (DCLG) confirmed that ministers hoped to sign a second tranche of MAAs towards the end of 2008. She added: "Liverpool has not missed out. Discussions are ongoing to get the right agreement together."

An "action plan" for Merseyside’s MAA was submitted to Communities Secretary Hazel Blears last year, but other areas were quicker to put together proposals in fine detail.

As well as allowing councils to pool budgets, an agreement would allow funds for a particular purpose – such as transport or housing – to be switched to a different priority.