One Yorkshire has failings, but any deal is better than none

OBSERVING the ongoing debate about devolution for Yorkshire, even an optimist could be forgiven for finding it utterly depressing. As your Editorial (‘Why Yorkshire must come first’, The Yorkshire Post, September 18) reminded readers, the issue is important because of jobs, growth, investment and prosperity.

There can be no doubt that the economic and political geography in Yorkshire is more difficult than in other regions. Equally there is no doubt that leaving Leeds and Sheffield without a devolution deal seriously undermines the Northern Powerhouse project.

These two city regions have an economy of £75bn – which is 20 per cent more than that of Greater Manchester and accounts for 80 per cent of the wider Yorkshire economy.

There is a legitimate point to be made about whether the One Yorkshire proposals work in terms of creating a functional economic geography, which until now has been defined in terms of cohesive city regions.

But it is better than nothing. Two years ago almost to the day, I attended an event hosted by The

Yorkshire Post on the same issue. It is difficult to see how things have moved on since that time.

With the Sheffield proposals virtually off the table and with no sign of a deal for Leeds, let us hope that the Secretary of State Sajid Javid at least reflects upon his rigid and doctrinaire comments ruling out the One Yorkshire proposals, which whatever their failings, seem to have a strong measure of support and are clearly better than the centralised grip of Whitehall. IT is ironic that five years ago it was in Sheffield that the Cooperative Party launched its campaign for a Yorkshire Cooperative Parliament and yet Sheffield is letting the side down by refusing to co-operate with the 17 out of 20 local authorities who favour a single voice for the whole region (The Yorkshire Post, September 19).

The Co-operative Party has held workshops on devolution across Yorkshire and the case for a single voice for a devolved Yorkshire has received the widest support.

The best chance of striking a deal with government is for Sheffield to come on board with the rest of Yorkshire in support of a single voice for the region which then could not be reasonably refused.