'Humongous' One Yorkshire deal might lead to county's independence, Levelling Up Minister jokes

During a debate in the House of Lords on Monday, former Archbishop of York Lord Sentamu questioned what the Government’s position on One Yorkshire now was following the publication of the Levelling Up White Paper.

Levelling Up Minister Lord Greenhalgh said in response: “I am not sure creating a humongous entity called One Yorkshire will necessarily accelerate levelling up. Maybe it will ensure the independence of Yorkshire from the rest of the country, but I am not sure that will help us in any way.”

Lord Sentamu had asked whether the "dream" of a Yorkshire-wide devolution deal was still alive.

"I used to be the convenor of One Yorkshire. At the last general election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats committed themselves to bringing in One Yorkshire, if elected," he said.

"The Conservatives were slightly equivocal. In the light of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up saying that we need mayors of the type that we have in London, and, given that the need that quickly comes up is to have one for the whole of Yorkshire because of its economy, people and geography, will the Minister give the House his further thoughts on One Yorkshire, because it is still committed to that dream and ideal?

Lord Greenhalgh said: "My name is Greenhalgh, a Lancastrian name, and when I look at the map, Lancashire seems to have almost disappeared; it has disappeared to Cheshire and Greater Manchester, and there is a little county called Lancashire. Meanwhile, Yorkshire on a map looks absolutely humongous."

He added that while he was uncertain about the idea of One Yorkshire the Government has a "huge commitment to help mayors who represent functional economic areas".

He said: "We have the mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis, who is part of the education investment areas; there is regeneration of one of the 20 places in Sheffield.

"We are extending brownfield and bus transformation funding, exploring further flexibilities to raise CA funding thorough business rates, and looking at further and deeper devolution.

"There are also measures in West Yorkshire with Tracy Brabin. She is receiving education investment areas, extended brownfield funding, support for family allocations and bus transformation funding—all of it seems to be going into West Yorkshire. There is a commitment to, at least, parts of Yorkshire that shows a true commitment."

Read more:

'Too small' Hull and East Riding reject new mayor as part of devolution deal..

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