Yorkshire MP backs calls for economy powers

The Government is being urged to accept proposals tabled by Labour in the House of Lords which would allow the leaders of cities such as Leeds and Sheffield to ask Ministers for far-reaching powers which currently apply only to London.

The power gap between London and the rest of the country was laid bare in the Fair Deal for Yorkshire campaign launched by the Yorkshire Post on Saturday amid fears the Government’s drive to close the North-South divide may be on course to fail.

Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Caroline Flint, the MP for Don Valley, has given her backing to the campaign which urges David Cameron to live up to his warm words on rebalancing the economy and has won backing from MPs of all three parties.

“How can it be fair Boris Johnson – or whoever is London Mayor – gets all these freedoms and powers and the rest of the country doesn’t, especially when you look at some of the problems there are for the north of England?” she said.

“It just doesn’t make sense and it’s completely unfair. We’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.”

The Mayor of London has extensive powers over vital areas including the economy, transport, regeneration and housing, yet council and business leaders in Yorkshire are frustrated that they do not even have a say in which transport schemes are given the go-ahead by Ministers.

Councils in the region were also preventing from taking control of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward’s assets as it is abolished, yet Mr Johnson was handed £300m of the assets of the London Development Agency.

The Localism Bill, the Government’s flagship legislation to devolve more power from Whitehall to local authorities and communities, will give even more powers to the London Mayor, such as allowing him to set up mayoral development corporations to drive forward regeneration.

But Labour has tabled amendments to the Bill that would allow cities to apply to the Government for some of the powers enjoyed by London in a move which could give Yorkshire leaders more control over their destiny. The powers could then be granted without having to go through the full process of introducing primary legislation.

Ms Flint said: “The Localism Bill already extends some more powers to the Mayor of London and allows for an extension of more powers in the future.

“As part of the demise of the regional development agencies a huge amount of assets of the London Development Agency went to the Mayor of London and everywhere else they just ended up in this hotch potch situation with the RDAs gone and the assets all over the shop.

“We wanted to put into the Localism Bill the opportunity where core cities around the country could go to the Secretary of State and ask for powers on economic development and anything else that might be helpful to revitalising regional economies.”

Peers are expected to debate the amendments as the Bill continues its passage through the House of Lords, although it is unclear whether this will be before the summer or will have to wait until Parliament returns in the autumn.

The amendments have been tabled by Labour peers Lord McKenzie, a former Peer, Lord Beecham, a former head of the Local Government Association, and Lord Patel of Bradford, a party spokesman on local government issues,

The divide between London, the south east and the rest of the country has grown over the past decade to the frustration of leaders in the north but the Government has vowed to tackle this and “rebalance” the economy. Yet while the Localism Bill offers some extra freedoms for councils, critics say it lacks any real devolution of economic might.

Other measures in the Bill include plans to hold referenda in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Wakefield and seven other cities next year over whether to introduce elected mayors.

The Government has already staged one climb-down on the Bill, dropping controversial plans to turn council leaders into “shadow mayors” before the referenda take place in the wake of a fierce political backlash over the idea.