Will Yorkshire's voice be heard at Brexit summit?

Mr Davis, the Haltemprice and Howden MP, has revealed he will invite the North’s new metro-mayors to talks on Brexit following their election in May.

But while Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and Tees Valley are set to elect regional mayors this year as part of deals to take over powers from the Government, there are no such plans for Yorkshire.

The expected election of a Sheffield City Region mayor in May was postponed last week and the rest of the region has yet to agree devolution deals with the Government leading to elected mayors.

Mr Davis revealed his planned summit as he came under fire in the Commons from former Labour health secretary Andy Burnham who accused the Government of pursuing the agenda of a “London-centric right-wing clique”.

Mr Burnham, who is running to be Greater Manchester mayor, complained Theresa May’s speech on the Brexit talks had acknowledged the interests of the devolved governments and the City but not English regions.

The Brexit Secretary said as a Yorkshire MP he was “acutely conscious of the needs of the North”.

“What I am intending to do, after the mayoral elections, is to get all the mayors of the North to come and have a meeting in York to talk about precisely that,” he added.

Mr Davis’s initiative was welcomed in some quarters but there was immediately concern that by listending to elected mayors he would only hear a narrow range of views from the North.

Ed Cox, director of the IPPR North thinktank, said: “This is a very important acknowledgment of the need for the North’s voice to be heard, but risks being too little, too late.

“We need a Northern Brexit Negotiating Committee, which properly includes representatives from Yorkshire.”

Liberal Democrat Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland said it was “a disgrace that no Yorkshire voice will currently be represented to discuss an issue so central to our future.”

He added: “Many people who voted Leave said they wanted to be part of the common market even though they wanted to leave the EU. Yet Theresa May has thrown this possibility out of the window, before negotiations have even started.

“This weakens the UK’s negotiating hand but also consigns the nation to a reckless exit from the world’s biggest tariff-free market, risking Yorkshire businesses and jobs, from farming to manufacturing.”

However, Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake insisted the potential for Yorkshire to be missing from the summit underlined the need for the region to end its longrunning wrangling over devolution and elected mayors.

He said: “It’s ironic that the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, said he was going to meet with the Northern Mayors in York after the May elections. Ironic because, as things stand, Yorkshire won’t have a representative around that table.

“If ever there is a time to make devolution happen in Yorkshire, now is the time. “

He added: “The imbalance between North and South is too great and has gone on for too long. We need our own devolved powers to make our own decisions about investment in infrastructure, skills, health, housing and digital connectivity. With Brexit around the corner, the urgency is greater than ever.”

Mr Davis, briefing MPs on the Government’s plans following Mrs May’s speech, also hinted the Government is considering continuing to offer help to regions which currently benefit from EU cash after Brexit.

The Government has so far only guaranteed to underwrite projects which receive cash in the current EU funding round.

Yorkshire is due to receive more than £600m in support for the region’s economy by 2020 having been given £850m between 2007 and 2013.

Britain’s poorer regions have benefitted significantly from European cash and Mr Davis suggested the Government is looking at how the can be supported after Brexit.

Asked whether such areas would receive the “same level of funding” in the future, Mr Davis said: “The aim of our entire strategy is to improve the economic prospects of the country and to do that for everybody.”

Setting out the Treasury’s existing promises on EU funding, he said MPs should “take it as read that we will do everything possible to make sure that all parts of the United Kingdom benefit from this policy”.

The EU’s current funding for Yorkshire is worth around £130 for every person in the region.

Wales is the biggest beneficiary in the current round with the country receiving £681 per head.