New questions on mayor move

However, his potential candidature does not lessen the Government’s difficulties as apathy threatens to be the winner this May in the four cities – Wakefield, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield – where residents will be asked to support the introduction of elected mayors.

First elected 30 years ago, Councillor Box has been the authority’s leader since 1998 and an increasingly influential figure nationally.

Well-respected, it is difficult to see how Wakefield’s management will markedly change for the better if his job title switches, on the public’s say-so, from council leader to elected mayor – the Government is still obfuscating over whether the latter role will assume significant new powers or not.

Yet, while any transition in Wakefield could, potentially, be a smooth one, contrast this with the potential upheaval in Leeds where Keith Wakefield – the leader of the city’s ruling Labour group – has no desire to stand as mayor, branding the policy as “utter madness”.

One only has to look at the political turmoil in Doncaster where years of acrimony between the town’s elected mayors, and majority party, has seen voters trigger a referendum of their own to determine whether this system of governance should be abolished.

The only certainty is that every city, town and parish across Yorkshire requires strong leadership to overcome the economic slump and squeeze on public spending.

Yet, with conflicting views on whether this should be driven from a city or regional level, particularly on issues such as regeneration and transport, the only way that the Government will engage with voters is by providing the clarity that might, in turn, stimulate a long-overdue public debate. Otherwise people will conclude, as many have already done, that elected mayors are only being created so the postholders, and not Ministers, are in place to take the blame for unpopular decisions on public spending.