Rest of region ‘should not subsidise South Yorkshire’

SOME TORIES insist that with the Sheffield City Region deal in place the rest of the region should press on with an arrangement taking in everything other than South Yorkshire.

A ‘Greater Yorkshire’ deal fitting this description would, according to its backers, “build on the coherence and formidable ‘clout’ of the entire West, North and East Yorkshire economy”.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post last year, Elmet & Rothwell MP Alec Shelbrooke said that including the more deprived South Yorkshire in any deal would lead to it being subsidised by other parts of the region.

He added: “This is not in the best interests of my constituents in West Yorkshire, nor in the interests of councils across North, West and East Yorkshire.

“South Yorkshire already has a multi-million pound devolution deal in place and an elected mayor charged with delivering for his region.

“It’s now time for the rest of Yorkshire to pull together and take charge of our own future with a Greater Yorkshire deal.”

Craig Whittaker, Calder Valley MP and a Tory whip, also backs the idea but says it is unlikely to become a reality because of the possibility of a more limited York City Region deal.

From a party-political point of a view, a devolution deal leaving out Labour-dominated Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham would be more likely to find favour with Conservatives worried about the clout of a One Yorkshire Labour with a mandate of the whole region behind them.

But given the Government’s rejection of One Yorkshire on the grounds that the region is not a “functional economic area”, it is hard to see how a deal taking in most but not all of the region could be approved on the same criteria.