Yorkshire set for £250 million in budget windfall to boost growth

Jeremy Hunt yesterday announced a new series of proposals to drive growth and regenerate low-income areas, as the Government took “further steps” in its Levelling Up agenda.

This will see millions of pounds of investment and tax breaks across transport, health and innovation, as well as a roadmap to further powers for the region’s mayors.

The Chancellor told MPs that growth was the “focus” of this budget which also included reforms to childcare, pensions, benefits and business taxes as well as investment in technology, green energy and help for families struggling with energy bills.

Mr Hunt confirmed that both South and West Yorkshire will be home to two new Investment Zones, which had the potential to become new “Canary Wharfs” in the North.

These are backed with £80m over five years which will cover policies such as tax relief in business rates, funding research and buying land for laboratories or industry.

Both Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, and Oliver Coppard, her counterpart in South Yorkshire will also receive around 15 per cent of a £150m pot to improve its cities.

Leeds received over £12m for preventing flooding, while South Yorkshire received a similar amount over Rotherham and Sheffield for health research and regeneration.

However, Mr Coppard yesterday claimed that Mr Hunt’s budget was a “missed opportunity”.

“There was nothing in today’s announcement to tackle some of the systemic problems holding back South Yorkshire,” he said.

“As growth remains anaemic and people across South Yorkshire see their living standards continue to fall, the Chancellor has yet again chosen to prioritise short-term solutions over tackling our country’s long-term – and increasingly glaring – problems.”

Treasury documents showed that the Government will make £8.8bn of new transport funding available, which could see Leeds no longer be the largest city in Western Europe without a light railway or metro system.

“I would have welcomed government taking this opportunity to recommit to Mass Transit, but we will continue to develop our plans and push Ministers for further funding,” Ms Brabin told The Yorkshire Post.

Mayors in the region, the soon-to-be established authority in North Yorkshire, and a potential mayoralty for Hull and East Yorkshire could also see new powers announced, the Chancellor revealed.

Next-generation deals for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands were unveiled yesterday, with the Government committing to rolling these powers out to “all areas in England with a devolution deal and a directly elected leader over time”.

These “trailblazer” deals, as The Yorkshire Post revealed last month, have seen the mayors given flexible single pot settlements as well as 100 per cent retention of business rates which were initially only pilots.

In addition, further powers and funding over housing, employment support, adult skills, post-16 technical education and devolving net zero funding to them.

“The government will seek to negotiate a new wave of devolution deals over the coming year, which will include local investment funding for areas that are committed to a mayor or directly elected leader,” budget documents added.

Last night the Treasury did not clarify whether existing mayors, such as Mr Coppard, could request new powers this year, or whether these would only be for new authorities.