Budget’s lack of focus on devolution ‘a missed opportunity’
YORKSHIRE’S ONLY metro mayor has claimed the lack of references to devolution of powers and resources to local leaders in the Budget represented “another missed opportunity” as he pressed a Minister over the Government’s response to the detailed One Yorkshire proposals.
Sheffield City Region mayor and Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis used a Commons debate on local authority funding to call for an end to “an economic and political model in which the only hope is for wealth to trickle down and prosperity to ripple out”.
He pushed his fellow Yorkshire MP Rishi Sunak, the Minister responsible for local government, for an answer on when the Government would be responding to the submission earlier this month of the economic case for a region-wide devolution deal.
The Labour MP told the Commons: “It is not just a matter of basic courtesy that this happens soon; it is in everybody’s interests – the Government’s and all our local authorities across Yorkshire – to move it forward as quickly as possible.”
Richmond MP Mr Sunak, who defended the Government’s record on supporting local authorities, said there was “no fixed timeframe” for a response to the One Yorkshire documents submitted on October 10 by 18 of the region’s 20 local authority leaders and Mr Jarvis. They set out how a Yorkshire-wide devolution deal could boost the region’s economy by up to £30bn a year.
The Government has so far rebuffed leaders’ arguments about the merits of handing powers to a One Yorkshire mayor, and says it will not start talks on the proposals until the Sheffield City Region deal has been fully implemented.
Mr Jarvis said: “We need to abandon an economic and political model in which the only hope is for wealth to trickle down and prosperity to ripple out.
“We must replace it with a three-tier system of government – local, regional and national – giving each tier the powers and resources it needs to make a difference in the communities for which it is responsible.
“Only if we do this correctly will we put the right people at the heart of decision making, end the status quo whereby so many people have become disenfranchised, and allow communities to overcome the challenges they face and to thrive.
“Greater funding and stronger powers for our local authorities should be the first stage of that journey – but yesterday’s Budget represented, I am afraid, another missed opportunity.”