Minister ready to accept plans for Mayor’s tax
Boost for devolution fundraising hopes
A TORY Minister says he would “not criticise at all” any plans for a metro mayor for West Yorkshire to levy an extra tax on residents to pay for major projects.
Exchequer Secretary Simon Clarke, who was in Leeds yesterday for devolution talks with West Yorkshire leaders, said he supported elected mayors having “skin in the game” by raising funds locally rather than relying on resources from government.
Formal negotiations were triggered yesterday on the talks which could lead to a devolution deal handing hundreds of millions of pounds of funding and extra powers to a metro mayor, with hopes high a deal could be signed in time for the March Budget.
Speaking before the meeting, Conservative Mr Clarke said the remaining issues such as the date of a mayoral election and the geographical area covered by the deal were significant but “shouldn’t be deal breakers”.
Earlier this week, the Sheffield City Region moved closer to securing its own devolution deal after launching a public consultamayoral tion on the plans that would hand metro mayor Dan Jarvis £30m a year in ‘gainshare’ funding.
Mr Jarvis revealed that he would not be following the example of metro mayors in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region by imposing a precept when the devolution deal is finally implemented. Such a levy, which elsewhere is used to pay for the mayor’s priorities, would be added to every resident’s council tax bill.
With Tory metro mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen refusing so far to levy a mayoral precept, Mr Clarke said: “This is one of the issues which mayors have to form a judgement on and be accountable on.
“I think it is helpful if mayors have skin in the game when it comes to major funding decisions. It is for each of them to work out the right balance and clearly there’s no point levying tax without very clear reasons but it’s clear that is an option they have open to them. If they can see clear priorities and get public consent for that, we don’t criticise at all people seeking to raise revenue for key projects.”
West Yorkshire leaders said in a statement: “It is essential any deal meaningfully transfers powers and money and helps us deliver the ambitions we have for all our communities.
“We look forward to meeting with Ministers again in the near future to review progress.”
EARLY EVIDENCE suggests that this could be a decade of devolution for Yorkshire. Ministers have already struck a deal with Sheffield City Region leaders. A separate agreement for Leeds and West Yorkshire is expected to be unveiled in Chancellor Sajid Javid’s forthcoming Budget after a positive conclusion to yesterday’s talks with Treasury Minister Simon Clarke. And a joint deal for North and East Yorkshire is on the cards.
Yet, while Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry accepted the importance of the rural economy during his interview with The Yorkshire Post earlier this month, there are still legitimate concerns, as the RSA thinktank sets out today, at the extent to which smaller towns, and countryside communities, are being marginalised by the political emphasis on city-regions.
It would be remiss of Ministers not to recognise the legitimacy of this concern. It would also be disingenuous of the Government if politicians thought that a devolution deal for the East and North Ridings would absolve Defra, the Environment Agency and other bodies of responsibility for issues like coastal erosion and flood defences that are causing so much angst to communities here.
Quite the opposite. These are national challenges which demand national solutions – it is unrealistic to expect cash-strapped councils to foot the bill – and adds both credence, and urgency, to The Yorkshire Post’s call for Boris Johnson to appoint a dedicated Minister for the Coast and Floods in his post-Brexit reshuffle. This will provide a policy focus, and degree of accountability, which does not exist at present.