South Yorkshire mayoral elections will go ahead, insists minister

A local government minister has insisted the South Yorkshire devolution deal should still go ahead, despite hitting the rocks.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on devolution this week, Jake Berry told MPs it is ‘unfortunate’ that both Barnsley and Doncaster have decided not to take the plans to the next stage, and added the May 2018 regional mayor election is going ahead anyway.

The minister even added the Conservative party is proceeding with selecting its candidate for what will be an ‘important election’.

‘The reason I make that point is that I say this to the new mayor of South Yorkshire, whoever he or she may be – we understand the challenges South Yorkshire faces,’ said Mr Berry. ‘We believe that an elected mayor can give South Yorkshire the leadership it clearly needs, and we will work with them, whoever they may be, to ensure the nearly £1bn of government money that has been promised to South Yorkshire is delivered to the people of South Yorkshire.’

And referring to the events last month, which saw Barnsley and Doncaster pull back, the minister added: ‘It took my breath away when the leader of Sheffield City Council, Julie Dore, told me this summer that she never thought she would live to see the day in South Yorkshire when a Labour council – in fact, two Labour councils – egged on by local MPs, would reject £1bn from a Tory government because of factionalism, and infighting in the Labour party in South Yorkshire.’

Labour MP John Grogan spoke in favour of the 17 local authorities, which have called for a Yorkshire-wide devolution deal instead.

‘All that the 17 councils are asking for is talks, which the minister has not yet agreed to,’ said Mr Grogan.

‘This House quite rightly prides itself on the fact that we have had devolution through consent from both parties in more difficult places than Yorkshire, such as Northern Ireland, and we are now telling the Spanish government that they must have talks with Catalonia. If they can do that, why cannot the government have talks with 17 Yorkshire council leaders?’

He added the South Yorkshire devolution deal is ‘much diminished’.

‘Obviously, Barnsley and Doncaster signed up, and there was the hope that ​various authorities in Derbyshire would be involved. Sadly, that has now changed,’ Mr Grogan told MPs.

‘Although the deal is about the same in terms of money – slightly more than Manchester, but quite a bit less than the west of England – if we look at the powers we can do better in the whole of Yorkshire. There is no housing investment fund in the Sheffield city region deal, no control of railway stations and no community infrastructure levy. All those things are held by the mayor of Manchester, so why do we have to have second best in Yorkshire? We can negotiate better than that across the whole of Yorkshire.’

Speaking before the parliamentary debate, the chief executive of the Centre for Cities think tank, Andrew Carter, said: ‘For devolution to have the greatest impact in boosting economic growth in Yorkshire, it needs to make the most of cities such as Sheffield and Leeds, which are the region’s main drivers of wealth and opportunities.

‘In particular, introducing mayors in these places with powers to improve transport and skills, and to support more businesses and jobs, would make a huge difference in raising prosperity for people living across Yorkshire,’ added Mr Carter.

‘However, there is a danger that the crucial economic role of these cities would be lost in a Yorkshire-wide devolution deal, which ultimately would not take us much further beyond the one-size-fits-all Whitehall approach that we already have.’