Yorkshire devolution debate underway as South Yorkshire councils call for forthcoming mayoral election to be scrapped
A debate on the future of Yorkshire devolution has got underway at Westminster Hall, as two South Yorkshire councils say the region’s forthcoming mayoral election should be scrapped.
Both Doncaster and Barnsley councils have said they want the South Yorkshire mayoral election, scheduled to take place in May of this year, to be postponed.
The local authorities say this could pave the way for a ‘One Yorkshire’ mayor to be elected in 2020, for all or most of the region, allowing for a wider devolution deal.
The Yorkshire Post says: Now is the time for Yorkshire to decide its own destiny
TODAY, Yorkshire stands on the threshold of a historic and far-reaching agreement that could – potentially – pave the way for full devolution.
So much progress has been made between the Government and local leaders in recent months that there is a perceptible spirit of optimism ahead of this afternoon’s Parliamentary debate.
It is in this unifying spirit at the start of a pivotal year that The Yorkshire Post implores each and every MP, and council leader, to evoke the spirit of Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu and start shaping the region’s future.
Yorkshire devolution: Appointed mayor could end deadlock and save £2m on election
An unelected mayor for South Yorkshire could be appointed for two years in a bid to end the long-running devolution stalemate in the county, it was claimed last night.
Read more at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/yorkshire-devolution-appointed-mayor-could-end-deadlock-and-save-2m-on-election-1-8946477
Andrew Vine: If devolution can work in Hartlepool, it must work in Yorkshire
I CAN’T remember the last time any of my friends and acquaintances who work in local government in Yorkshire began a new year with a sense of optimism.
Instead, they approach it with grim anticipation of yet more difficulties, the same old certainty of being lectured by po-faced Government ministers that they will have to stretch ever-dwindling funding even further.
Rotherham Politics 
A One Yorkshire deal is not on the political agenda of Dore and Read, both are more concerned about maintaining the status-qou to safeguard their household incomes, forget the strategic direction for Yorkshire in terms of investment, modernisation of critical infrastructure and growth of the Yorkshire economy, their head in the sand approach will cost jobs, sadly not theirs.
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