New super council for the North would enable region to '˜take back control'

A new report from the IPPR North think tank warns that the region’s current network of city deals and combined authorities is “too small” to compete on the global stage and must come together to increase their clout.

They should also consider the creation of a new people’s assembly, it suggests, with members chosen at random from local communities to help guide the region’s economic and political agenda. This would “galvanize” the Northern Powerhouse agenda, and give areas like Yorkshire greater influence in the post-Brexit world.

“As we leave the EU, city and county leaders will find themselves very small fish in a big global pond if they opt to go it alone. But working together, the North’s £300bn economy carries real clout,” said IPPR North director and report author Ed Cox.

“A progressive renewal won’t come from Westminster, but from fresh thinking to address the global desire for people to have more control over the economy.

“It is only when the people of England begin to recognise that the systems of government that currently shape their futures are the principal [source of] so many of their grievances, that they will find the real means to take back control.”The report comes as authorities across Yorkshire continue to wrangle over local devolution bids, with the Sheffield City Region post-poning mayoral elections until next year as a result of a legal challenge.

The think tank claims this has seen South Yorkshire consigned to the “naughty step” by the Government, alongside councils in the North East who rejected the deal they were offered by Whitehall.

It goes on to warn that unlike the previous Government, Theresa May’s administration holds “no special place for the North”.

But it argues that by joining forces with other local authorities to form a Council of the North, councils in Yorkshire stand a greater chance of increasing control over funding, transport and other local services.

“The Council... would be overseen by a Northern Citizens Assembly of ordinary Northerners chosen by lot, as with jury service,” it explains.

“This would both equip the North with sufficient powers, while going some way to meet the popular desire to ‘take back control’.”

The proposals echo plans outlined by Labour earlier this year. Responding to the report, Shadow communities minister Jim McMahon said: “For people to truly take back control over their lives and their futures, they must be able to create real change in their local communities.

“Greater devolution to all of our regions is necessary to drive inclusive economic growth and deliver high-performing public services through fair needs-based funding.

“That is why we need a new constitutional settlement, and a clear framework which provides this for the whole of England, to truly address the historic regional inequality which persists.”