Yorkshire mayors would get £1 billion pot of levelling up funded was allocated ‘fairly’, research suggests

Research by the IPPR think tank to mark Yorkshire Day found that a transparent framework of funding for mayors would be given a war chest to reduce the inequality between the North and the rest of the country.

It said that if the Government committed to investing 0.4 per cent of GDP to reduce regional inequalities, this would be worth £854m a year to Yorkshire and the Humber.This would be a similar model used by Germany in its Solidarity Pact which helped reduce the impacts of the East-West divide for 15 years after the country’s reunification.The researchers also found that if the Government devolved its flagship £9.84bn levelling up funds to the region using a “fair, needs based approach” then Yorkshire would receive £1.1bn, or 11.24 per cent of the funding.Senior research fellow at IPPR North, Marcus Johns said: “Local leaders could have hugely transformative impacts on places like Yorkshire with substantial, long-term funding.

"It’s the norm in other, less unequal, countries where the evidence shows that local leaders are best placed to invest in their areas, and it ought to become the norm here too.

“This Yorkshire Day, the government should celebrate everything that God’s Own Country is.

"But it must also commit to exploring fairer ways to devolve funding to places like and within Yorkshire, so that by Yorkshire Day 2024, funding for levelling up is sensible, sufficient and successful.”

The analysis comes at a crossroads for the region with devolution deals secured for three of the four counties, with ministers committing to more devolved powers akin to those given to Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

The Government has since its budget in March announced one investment zone around Sheffield, in addition to committing to another in West Yorkshire.

Ministers are currently reviewing the funding formula for its flagship levelling up policies amid criticism from mayors, such as the Conservative’s West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, that the competitive bidding process for pots of money is a “begging bowl culture”.

However The Yorkshire Post revealed this month that both Labour and the Conservatives will not give the region’s mayors new powers over taxes to retain money raised locally for reinvestment.

In addition neither of the main parties are pursuing a One Yorkshire devolution deal, despite voices within the Labour Party pushing for a combined county settlement for many years.

Keane Duncan, the Conservative candidate for the newly-created North Yorkshire mayoralty, said: “York & North Yorkshire’s £540m deal signals yet another major step forward in transferring power and funding from Whitehall to Yorkshire.

“More investment, more powers, more matters determined here, by the people who know Yorkshire best. A new chapter for devolution in God’s Own County.

“But so much more can be done to reverse the centralised decision making that is holding back the UK’s growth, and this Yorkshire Day we must re-double our fight to further empower our county.

“We don’t need special treatment to succeed here in Yorkshire – just our fair share. That means wider devolution, deals for all parts of Yorkshire. It means deeper devolution, even more matters determined by local people."