Minister ends One Yorkshire dream for region
Plan ‘does not meet our criteria’, says Government
AMBITIOUS PLANS for a One Yorkshire deal handing powers and funding to a region-wide mayor have suffered a major setback after the Government told local leaders the proposals do not meet its criteria for devolution.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire rejected the arrangement in a letter yesterday written to Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis and the 18 council leaders who back a One Yorkshire agreement.
Last year, a detailed submission was handed in to the Government setting out how the creation of a region-wide mayoral authority with a host of new powers could boost the economy by £30bn a year by boosting its low level of exports and creating more businesses.
The Conservative Cabinet Minister said the Government had “thought carefully about the arguments for One Yorkshire and discussed them in detail with local leaders”.
But he said the plan would “involve significant departures from the type of devolution deals that we have successfully put in place elsewhere in terms of geography, governance and purpose”.
He said in a statement: “I recognise the ambition that underpins these proposals but they do not meet our devolution criteria.”
The decision prompted an angry response from the 19 One Yorkshire leaders, who accused Mr Brokenshire of failing to understand the strength of the proposals “which build on a shared identity and an established global brand”.
Mr Brokenshire said his department wanted to begin discussions about “a different, localist approach to devolution in Yorkshire”. But he repeated his insistence that he would not consider any proposals until the Sheffield City Region deal, which was signed in 2015 but collapsed in 2017 after local leaders failed to agree, had been implemented.
He suggested the Government would be prepared to consider other proposals and pointed to previous representations about a Leeds City Region deal, which faltered amid opposition from Conservative MPs in West Yorkshire.
The statement by One Yorkshire leaders said: “We were told by government to come up with devolution proposals which enjoy widespread support. In the One Yorkshire devolution proposals we have a deliverable plan backed by 18 authorities, the Sheffield City Region Mayor, business and trade unions.
“In response, the Secretary of State is now advocating solutions that his own Government has previously rejected. We are
requesting an urgent meeting, face to face, to discuss the way forward.”
An independent report commissioned by Yorkshire’s leaders last year said having a regionwide structure would allow it to make better use of assets such as ports, as well as providing better promotion and support for business and “capitalising on the Yorkshire brand to raise ambitions and promote exports”.
It said that depending on the levels of ambition and activity, Yorkshire-wide devolution could increase the region’s gross value added by between £9bn and £30bn a year over two decades.
But Mr Brokenshire’s letter said the “novel” concept “focuses on an area that is far greater than any past local administrative area for Yorkshire or any of today’s functional economic city regions”. He added: “The mayoralty would cover the whole of Yorkshire – with a population of 5.5 million people and widely varying rural and urban areas with competing needs.”
His department declined to say publicly what criteria it was using to judge the One Yorkshire bid. It is understood officials rejected the argument that Yorkshire was a functional economic area and ruled that proposed governance arrangements were not strong enough.
Keighley MP John Grogan said the decision was a “massive snub”, adding: “A more shameless example of ‘Whitehall knows best’ would be hard to find.”
Hull MP Diana Johnson said: “After five wasted years Yorkshire devolution looks dead.
“We urgently need a ‘Plan B’ for devolved powers to drive, with real clout, the continued economic regeneration of the Humber Estuary and to give greater power for Transport for the North on a par with Transport for London.”