Mayors: Region must come first

Unlike London, the experience of elected mayors in Yorkshire has, so far, been an unhappy one, with Doncaster beset by years of bitter infighting and poor management since voters were first given the chance to appoint a figurehead for the town.

It is a lesson that Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, needs to consider as he decides whether to accelerate plans to introduce directly-elected mayors in Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield and the Minister's home city of Bradford, where he was previously council

leader.

This concept, at face value, should give residents a greater say over the running of local services. It has worked in London over transport, for example – but taxpayers in Doncaster would argue, with justification, that their interests have been ignored by successive mayors.

Mr Pickles cannot avoid this reality, or the actual financial costs of all the referenda, and additional elections, that his government wants to hold in these austere times.

Nor can he escape the fact that the leaders of the four councils concerned are already high-profile figures who are accountable to the electorate; will an elected mayor actually make any material difference to the future governance of these cities?

As Mr Pickles contemplates this question, he also needs to explain how the mayoral system will prevent rival cities being pitted against each other when it comes to funding for key projects.

The priority, from Yorkshire's point of view, is for the region to pull together in these challenging times to fill the void that is being created by Yorkshire Forward's demise, and to fight for the investment and infrastructure improvements which are critical to the area's future prospects.

That means leaders taking a region-wide perspective, rather than working in isolation. And if this means Mr Pickles having to delay his plans until there is greater clarity over the creation of a new enterprise body for Yorkshire, then he should not be afraid to put the region's interests before his reforming zeal.