‘This is only the start of devolution’
Jarvis calls for region to pull together
DAN JARVIS used his victory speech after being elected as Sheffield City Region’s mayor to call for a wider devolution deal for Yorkshire.
The Labour MP acknowledged that seeking to combine the job with his role at Westminster had raised eyebrows, but insisted he could not “stand on the sidelines” while the future of the region was being decided.
Voters across Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster elected Mr Jarvis to serve as the region’s first ‘metro-mayor’.
But the powers available to Mr Jarvis are far from being agreed with the Government and the devolution process has been dogged by deep divisions.
Barnsley Central MP Mr Jarvis took 48 per cent of the vote in the first count and was elected mayor after the second count, which saw him comfortably defeat his Tory rival Ian Walker.
In his victory speech he stressed the case for a wider Yorkshire devolution deal and defended his decision to stand in the election. “I understood then that the exceptional nature of my candidacy would raise some eyebrows and it has,” he said.
“But I believed then, as I know now, that the exceptional circumstances of this mayoralty and the importance of devolution for the future of the UK meant that I couldn’t stand on the sidelines and that I had to step forward.
“I say this because I believe that the issue of devolution goes to the heart of two of the most important strategic issues that our country faces – how we respond to the causes of Brexit and how we prepare for a post-Brexit Britain.
“If we are to find the right answer to these questions we must be prepared to reform every aspect of our political system.”
The election has been mired in the wider controversy surrounding devolution in Yorkshire, which has led to a split within the South Yorkshire local authorities.
Doncaster and Barnsley have joined with 16 other local authorities to back a plea to the Government to deliver a pan-Yorkshire devolution deal.
Sheffield and Rotherham, which favour a South Yorkshire deal, were the only Yorkshire councils not to sign up to this proposal earlier this year.
A South Yorkshire region devolution plan was agreed with the Government in 2015 but ran into a range of problems.
Mr Jarvis, who echoed the late Labour MP Jo Cox’s comment that people had “more in common” with each other than divided them, called for Yorkshire to pull together to address the challenges it faces.
“Today is not the end of Yorkshire’s devolution story, it is only the beginning,” he said.
Mr Jarvis, a former Parachute Regiment officer, has been a vocal supporter of attempts to secure a pan-Yorkshire devolution deal.
In his mayoral manifesto, he said: “I believe that a fully established wider Yorkshire deal – which encompasses the 5.4 million people who live in our region – is the right way to prepare for life after Brexit.”
Mr Jarvis’s victory was immediately hailed by the influential Confederation of British Industry, who urged him to make increasing productivity the cornerstone of his economic vision in the coming months.
It said its analysis showed that if Yorkshire and Humber’s productivity grew at the same pace as the region’s best-performing area did between 2004 and 2014, the gain to its economy could be £13.5bn by 2024. Beckie Hart, Yorkshire and Humber director for the CBI, said: “The new mayor will have responsibility for growing the region’s economy at a critical time for both Sheffield City Region and the UK as a whole.
“Working in partnership with businesses of all sizes and sectors from across the area will help establish priorities for raising productivity, such as improvements in infrastructure and education.
“This matters as increasing productivity is the only sustainable route to higher wages, and therefore living standards.
“We look forward to working closely with Dan Jarvis as he develops his economic vision in the coming months to help unlock more jobs, investment and prosperity for the region as a whole.”
IT IS to the credit of Dan Jarvis, the newly elected mayor of Sheffield City Region, that he is held in such high esteem by his opponents. Not many command the level of respect, or public mandate, that the former paratrooper and serving MP for Barnsley Central has received.
No stranger to challenges – whether they be military, political or personal – the significance of Mr Jarvis’s election will, in all likelihood, extend beyond South Yorkshire where he now has responsibility for a range of new policy-making powers.
After all, Mr Jarvis is at the forefront of the One Yorkshire campaign that is pressing for a countywide devolution deal by 2020 to enable the whole region to pull together, and harness its expertise, in order to accelerate a new era of growth and prosperity.
Indeed, Mr Jarvis made no secret of his desire to do away with the newly formed Sheffield City Region mayoralty when he secured, after some procedural prevarication, the Labour nomination. He was also very candid about his intentions during the election campaign.
Yet, having been elected on this basis, and emphatically so, the outcome needs to be respected by Sheffield and Rotherham Councils, the two town halls that have been putting up the greatest resistance to devolution.
Political self-interest has stood in the way of the greater good for too long. Yorkshire already finds itself lagging behind rival regions – and it certainly cannot afford to lose any further ground as the Government continues to favour those areas that have embraced self-governance.
As Mr Jarvis looks to bridge the differences that exist between neighbouring boroughs in the south of the county, and also those that remain between South Yorkshire and the West, North, and East Ridings, all political, business and civic leaders would be advised to follow his pragmatism and positivity. He, and others, have advanced this agenda significantly in recent months.
Furthermore, this needs to be reciprocated by James Brokenshire, the new Communities Secretary. A former Northern Ireland Secretary, he will know, more than most, the importance of being openminded and that the best outcome is still a deal driven by the most important individuals of all – the Yorkshire people.