Ministers ‘must see opportunity from One Yorkshire’
THE REGION’S political leaders have called on the Government to recognise “the significant and timely opportunity One Yorkshire represents” regardless of the outcome of next week’s vote.
A devolution agreement covering the whole region of 5.3 million people was one of the items on the agenda as council and combined authority leaders from across Yorkshire met yesterday.
Eighteen council leaders and metro mayor Dan Jarvis last year submitted a document to government setting out the benefits of a Yorkshire-wide devolution deal, but are yet to receive a formal response.
Ministers have said that they will not enter into formal talks about One Yorkshire until the Sheffield City Region deal, signed in 2015, has been implemented in full.
The Yorkshire leaders said in a joint statement issued after yesterday’s meeting: “In meetings before Christmas we made clear to the Northern Powerhouse Minister that we were, and indeed remain, clear in our unshakable commitment to the One Yorkshire proposals that could add £30bn a year to the regional economy – delivering for the people of our region on housing, skills and jobs.
“The Minister reassured us that the detailed proposals we submitted to Government in October were being considered seriously. We now need to see their formal response and for negotiations to start urgently on this basis.
“Whatever the outcome of the Westminster Brexit debate, the Government should recognise the significant and timely opportunity One Yorkshire represents to the people of the region, to the Northern Powerhouse and the UK and work with us to swiftly agree a roadmap towards its delivery.”
Separately, members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire will be considering the impact of Brexit on the region next week.
The event on January 16 at 2pm in Committee Room 16 of the Palace of Westminster will hear from Chris Hearld, Northern Region Chair at KPMG, and Mark Essex, the firm’s Director of Public Policy.