Calls to put back mayoral election after poll

Voters back One Yorkshire over city devolution deal

THE GOVERNMENT was last night being urged to consider pushing back next May’s Sheffield City Region mayoral elections until 2020 after voters in Barnsley and Doncaster threw their support behind the rival wider Yorkshire devolution deal.

It was announced that about 85 per cent of those who voted in a community poll in the two boroughs preferred a pan-Yorkshire solution than the South Yorkshire deal signed by council leaders in 2015.

Though only a fifth of voters expressed a preference by post or online, the poll was said by leaders to show that the “will of the people is for wider Yorkshire”.

It comes a day after Communities Secretary Sajid Javid suggested that Barnsley and Doncaster may be allowed to join a ‘One Yorkshire’ deal provided they agreed to implement the Sheffield City Region (SCR) proposals first.

The two South Yorkshire authorities pulled out of the SCR deal in September after earlier expressing support for a solution which transferred powers from Whitehall to a mayor covering the whole region of more than five million people.

It means that as it stands, a costly election would be held in May next year for a South Yorkshire mayor with few powers.

Responding to the vote, Sir Stephen Houghton, leader of Barnsley Council, said the next step was “negotiating a way forward for wider Yorkshire”.

“We’ll call on Government to enter into discussions on wider Yorkshire with the coalition of the willing. This includes not imposing a Sheffield City Region mayor on the will of the people and we’ll work to push back any Sheffield City Region mayoral elections until 2020.

“We would also want to find an alternative deal for those who wish to remain in the Sheffield City Region devolution deal.

“We now know the direction that our residents want the borough to take, and people living in Barnsley now know much more about devolution and the benefits it will bring.”

In Barnsley, 84.9 per cent of those who voted backed a wider Yorkshire deal, a total of 34,015 votes. In Doncaster, 85.2 per cent of voters preferred a wider Yorkshire devolution deal.

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones said: “This result has clearly shown that Doncaster people want a wider Yorkshire deal and that they identify with the county and want to be part of a larger regional devolution story.”

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We have always said we would welcome discussions on a widely supported greater Yorkshire devolution deal provided the Sheffield City Region deal was not threatened.

“While we will not undo the Sheffield City Region deal, which has been partly implemented and would bring around £1bn of new investment to the area, we have proposed to the four South Yorkshire leaders what we believe is a good way forward.”