Debate hears calls for Yorkshire-wide referendum on devolution for the region

The call for a region-wide vote was among numerous ideas raised by those attending the Yorkshire Society’s Great Debate event, which was staged at the Yorkshire Museum in York, on the eve of Yorkshire Day as part of a grass roots campaign.

The event’s chair, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate, who served as a MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber for the Conservative Party for 17 years, said with the region’s size being equivalent to that of Scotland and a mixed economy that was “very developable” Yorkshire should be allowed to have devolved governance.

Sir Stephen Houghton, leader of Barnsley Council, said while the Government was setting up a committee of the UK regions, involving the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments and combined authority mayors, there were questions how the voices of mayors of smaller areas would stand up to those representing larger areas.

He said: “It would be interesting to see how the mayor of South Yorkshire with four authorities works against the Scottish Government with all the issues that it’s got. Some people might argue that’s better at a Yorkshire level rather than a sub-regional level.”

Other speakers included Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra conductor Ben Crick who highlighted historical examples of how culture could play a critical role in “energising and activiting” residents together and create an identity for Yorkshire.

Rachael Bice, chief executive of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said the devolution agenda had “exciting and essential opportunities for climate and nature”.

The event heard a call from Dr Stewart Arnold, of the University of Hull, for proponents of a Yorkshire assembly with budgetary control and tax-raising powers to concentrate less on issues of identity and more on issues of economic critical mass.

He told the meeting a compelling argument to raise Yorkshire’s GDP per capita to the national average, meaningful infrastructure projects and to attract investment and students from across the world was that it could only be done on a Yorkshire-wide level.

However, Dr Arnold warned Yorkshire was “big enough to be successful, but big enough to be a threat to Westminster”.

He added: “There is a realisation that serious economic growth will not come on the back of relatively small devolved units with limited powers and very modest budgets.

“I firmly believe the configuration of combined authorities in Yorkshire currently and proposed are just too small to be effective.”

The event follows campaigners marking the 50th anniversary of the abolition of the historic Ridings of Yorkshire in April by signing a declaration pressing for “real devolution” for the 4,596sq mile area.

The declaration came more than five years after the government rejected the One Yorkshire single devolution bid, which had been backed by 18 out of the region’s 20 local councils.

Organisers of the event said they would report the outcomes of the debate to the Government and elected Yorkshire mayors.