Taxpayer faces £1m costs over powerless mayor poll

Urgent talks sought after devolution deal collapses

URGENT talks will be sought with ministers as South Yorkshire councils look to avoid a £1m election for a powerless mayor taking place following the collapse of the Sheffield City Region devolution deal yesterday.

Ministers will be urged not to force through the election of a Sheffield City Region mayor – a central plank of the deal – in what would amount to a punishment to the area for the failure to deliver the agreement.

Ahead of yesterday’s meeting on the future of the deal, Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid had warned council leaders the Government was ready to force through the mayoral election with the cost picked up by local taxpayers.

And last night the Department for Communities and Local Government continued to insist the Government has “no intention” of making the legal change necessary to scrap the poll.

The Sheffield City Region deal was put on hold and effectively scrapped at the meeting of South Yorkshire council leaders yesterday. But the legal process for the election is already in place and, without a change of heart by ministers, next May will see a Sheffield City Region mayor elected with few powers and without the £30m a year promised under the terms of the deal.

The deal collapsed as Barnsley and Doncaster stood by their decision to pursue an alternative approach to transferring decision-making powers and money from Whitehall.

The two authorities are among 17 councils across the region to sign up over the summer to the emerging One Yorkshire plan for an agreement to have a single elected mayor for the whole region. Sheffield and Rotherham have continued to back the Sheffield City Region deal.

In the aftermath of the decision, South Yorkshire sources said the focus would now shift to testing the extent to which the Government’s election threat was sincere or merely a tactic to try and force Barnsley and Doncaster to fall into line.

It is likely ministers will be told that forcing through a meaningless election would see voters blaming the Government as much as local politicians.

Sheffield and Rotherham are also expected to stress to the Government that they should not suffer given their continued commitment to the deal.

One possible way forward would be for council leaders to be allowed to appoint an interim mayor while a way forward for the longer term is found.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post today, Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis describes the deal’s collapse as an “opportunity to be more ambitious”.

Warning that Yorkshire has “fallen behind” areas like Greater Manchester that have agreed devolution deals including elected mayors, Mr Jarvis says: “I believe that a One Yorkshire deal – which encompasses the 5.4 million people who live in our region – is the right way forward.

“We need to think bigger than city-regions if we are going to rival the influence of areas such as Greater Manchester or the West Midlands.”

I believe that a One Yorkshire deal is the right way forward. Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis on his hopes for a devolution deal.