Time for region to 'get real' on devolution says former Treasury Minister O'Neill

Lord O’Neill, who served in both David Cameron and Theresa May’s Governments before resigning last year, said that recent political and social shocks seen in the UK should focus the minds of the region’s MPs to throw off partisan politics in favour of doing what is right for the region.

Speaking exclusively to The Yorkshire Post, the cross bencher peer laid the blame for the absence of a deal for the Leeds City Region at the door of the area’s Conservative MPs and also said that plans for a Yorkshire-wide mayor set-up were not deliverable, with city region deals for Sheffield and Leeds the only viable option.

“People need to put their self-reservation and political prejudices aside and start doing more of what is the right thing to do,” he said.

“Whether they will or not I don’t know but, as we have just seen broadly for the Tory machine they have just had a thumping wake-up call about many matters in life.

“In my opinion you should never let a crisis go to waste. So in my opinion it is time for Yorkshire to get real on this topic.”

Last month saw mayors elected for the first time in the city regions of Manchester, Liverpool, Tees Valley and Birmingham. The Sheffield city region deal had initially been delayed for a year and has now run into difficulty after Chesterfield withdrew its support. A deal for the rest of Yorkshire remains stuck in a quagmire of political intransigence.

Expressing his frustration about the inability of politicians in the Leeds City Region to put forward a deal, Lord O’Neill said he hoped unpredictable events such the Brexit vote and loss of the Conservative majority at the election could shift political opinion and engender a more bipartisan approach to decision making.

“As we are starting to see some signs on the whole Brexit matter, and because this Tory Government is re-elected in minority, they may have to think through a far more cross party collaborative approach then certainly they were planning to do when they called the election.

“From my own personal experience the reason why the Leeds city-based thing never really got anywhere was because the Tory MPs in Yorkshire refused to support the idea and said they would oppose the bill. They can still do that, and no doubt right this minute most of them would think that. But they, like everyone else one week after this remarkable election, need to reflect back as to what’s happened.

“When are any of them really going to stand up and really push for what needs doing and not get stuck in some local politics?”.