The early stages in the battle to become the first directly elected mayor of the West Midlands have begun, after Labour drew up plans for selecting a candidate.

Labour’s National Executive Committee decided this week that the party would pick a candidate in July this year through a ballot of members.

At least four local politicians are believed to be considering throwing their hat in the ring.

Voters in the new West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and the Black Country, will elect a “metro-mayor” in 2017.

Metro-mayors are so-called because they cover more than one town or city such as Greater Manchester, the Sheffield city region, and the North-East.

Possible Labour candidates in the West Midlands include Sion Simon, the former Birmingham MP who stood down in 2010 to campaign in favour of plans for an elected mayor to run Birmingham City Council.

While that proposal was rejected in a referendum of Birmingham voters in 2012, local councils in a new West Midlands Combined Authority have agreed that it should be led by a directly-elected mayor, as part of a deal with the Government which includes the promise of a Government-funded £1 billion investment fund for the region.

Mr Simon, who has been a Labour MEP for the West Midlands since 2014, said: “I stood down from the House of Commons in 2010 specifically to campaign for devolution, and I’ve been relentlessly making that case ever since.

“But now is not the time to start speculating about candidates. Labour will choose its candidate in the summer – still six months away – and that’s the proper time for such conversations.”

Other possible Labour candidates could include Liam Byrne, the MP for Hodge Hill. The former Cabinet Minister who was Minister for the West Midlands in Gordon Brown’s Labour government had previously hoped to stand for Birmingham mayor.

Ian Austin, the Labour MP for Dudley North and another former Minister for the West Midlands, and Darren Cooper, the Leader of Sandwell Council, could also be contenders.

It is unclear who is likely to stand for the Conservatives but possible contenders include Solihull Council leader Bob Sleigh, chair of the combined authority, or former Dudley Council leader Les Jones.