YP Letters: Give devolution powers to people of Yorkshire

ALTHOUGH Communities Secretary Greg Clark (The Yorkshire Post, June 2) has said he cannot back one devolution deal over another, he continues to hint that his preference would be for devolution on a wider Yorkshire basis.

He talks of devolution in terms of “Yorkshire” and “the region”.

The article tells us that the Government has insisted there is a consensus before any deals are done and Mr Clark’s comments fall very much in line with this. He adds: “It would be wrong of me to say to Yorkshire ‘This is how it must be’.”

So far, so good! However the ‘consensus’ the Government and Mr Clark refer to is not the consensus it should be. They do not refer to a consensus of the Yorkshire people. Instead they mean a consensus amongst only council leaders.

Why is this? Why are those who would be most affected by the decisions made being excluded from the decision making process? Surely that is not true to democracy and surely it is equally as wrong for a handful of council leaders to say to Yorkshire “This is how it must be”? The best way to establish a consensus would be to devolve power to the whole of Yorkshire.

That, I am sure, would produce the consensus of the Yorkshire people.