Government wanted to 'add Lincolnshire' to Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire combined authority

It will give local leaders the power over areas such as transport, adult education and housing, and the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber will have devolved powers.

However, Coun Anne Handley, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council leader, who was one of the key architects of the deal, has revealed that the Labour government was pushing for Lincolnshire to be included in the combined authority area.

Speaking at the Institute for Government’s fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Coun Handley said: “I have to say it hasn’t been easy.

“They wanted to combine with Lincolnshire, because we are on the Humber and the Humber is vitally important, but we said no.

“We stood our ground - we want to be the last part of Yorkshire.

“We were the last part of the jigsaw, - it was important our seat was at that table so we could get on that journey and fight for what we want in our region.”

Lincolnshire, which goes from the south bank of the Humber all the way down to the Wash, was granted its own devolution deal.

The Yorkshire Post understands that the government looked at a number of options around the deal, including adding Lincolnshire, however decided that reopening negotiations would have delayed devolution by many years.

Coun Handley also revealed how she pitched the agreement to the then Local Government Secretary Michael Gove on an escalator at a conference.

She said: “I jumped on it at the side of him and he couldn’t get off the escalator.

“He had to listen to what I had to say and by the time he got to the bottom of that escalator he said: ‘I’ll help you to get the deal.’”

The initial agreement, signed by Mr Gove in 2023, will provide £400m worth of funding over a 30-year period, as well as £20m of capital funding to drive regeneration.

It is subject to Parliamentary approval, although that is expected to be a formality.

Originally local leaders pushed for a pan-Yorkshire mayor covering the whole of the region, although this was blocked by the government.

South Yorkshire became the first mayoralty in 2018, with West Yorkshire following in 2021 and York and North Yorkshire earlier this year.

Now Hull and the East Riding will complete the set in May 2025.

Coun Handley said: “I’ve always felt that we actually are missing out.

“There are four different areas of Yorkshire, and the only part of Yorkshire without devolution was our area.

“We just sit on the sideline. We can’t even get a train, it’s that bad, everything seems to end in Leeds.”

She added: “I thought I can’t have this anymore.”

Coun Handley said she was “a little bit upset” when Rishi Sunak called the general election, as she was worried the devolution deal might be lost.

But Ms Rayner, who is also the Local Government Secretary, confirmed the agreement last month, saying it is “the final piece of the devolution jigsaw” in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Labour sees devolution as a way of driving growth and reducing regional inequalities.

It’s pledged to give greater transport and planning powers to the metro mayors to boost the local economies and increase housing.

Coun Handley is particularly focused on the greater controls around skills the new Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire combined authority will get.

In particular, Yorkshire’s current combined authorities believe having greater planning oversight around large infrastructure projects will help speed up house building.