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Leeds town hall
Leeds town hall. Photograph: Alamy
Leeds town hall. Photograph: Alamy

West Yorkshire council leaders agree on devolution bid

This article is more than 8 years old

Leeds city region would be second group of mainly Labour-led councils to agree to cooperate with George Osborne’s northern powerhouse plan

George Osborne’s plans for a networked “northern powerhouse” of English city regions have received a boost after council leaders in West Yorkshire said they would bid for Leeds to join Manchester as having devolved economic powers.

The Leeds city region would be the second group of predominantly Labour-led councils to agree to cooperate with Osborne’s devolution plan. Greater Manchester struck a deal with Osborne before the election and the chancellor is now determined to spread the idea of city regions led by directly elected mayors across the north of England.

The Leeds city region would cover the West Yorkshire districts of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield plus the North Yorkshire districts of Craven, Harrogate, Selby and the City of York. The proposal was finalised at a meeting between the council leaders and the Treasury minister Lord O’Neill, the economist drafted in by Osborne to oversee the city devolution process.

O’Neill is confident other bids will be submitted before Friday’s application deadline, despite the Labour frontbench drifting to a position of hostility towards the northern powerhouse, partly due to fears that it could make Labour councils even more culpable for Westminster spending cuts.

The West Yorkshire economic area would represent the UK’s largest city region economy outside London, the council leaders said in a joint statement. The area generates £57.7bn of economic output and has a population of 2.8 million, more than 92% of whom also work within its area.

Along with the proposed geography of the city region, council leaders have agreed to submit a set of devolution “asks” to transform the city region economy, focusing on areas such as transport, housing, business support, skills and new powers to generate investment for infrastructure projects. It is not likely to cover health, one of the areas proposed in Greater Manchester.

The West Yorkshire leaders recognise that pursuing a Leeds city region deal brings administrative challenges, but that the scale of economic growth offered by devolution at this level should not be constrained by existing administrative boundaries. They point out that more than 50,000 people commute between the areas of Craven, Harrogate, Selby and York and West Yorkshire, and note that there is a need to recognise these local economic linkages if the northern powerhouse is to become a reality.

Peter Box, the leader of Wakefield council, said: “Today we had a constructive meeting with leaders of neighbouring councils and Lord O’Neill ahead of us submitting to government an ambitious devolution proposal that will mean better infrastructure, jobs and housing.”

In exchange for the devolution of these radical powers to enable local economies to thrive, the government has made clear it will insist on the introduction of an elected metro mayor.

The council leaders said in a statement: “Although people in Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield voted against mayors in in 2012, the leaders agree the potential benefits are now so substantial they have a duty to residents to give it serious consideration. However, they are making clear that they will not stand for the government using devolution to impose a mayor while keeping the real power in Whitehall or simply devolve the task and responsibility for implementing austerity measures.”The leader of Bradford council, David Green, said he expected the government to give its first response to the Leeds city region proposal in November’s spending review, after which more detailed talks about specific powers to be devolved could take place. Green said he expected the first mayoral election for the region would be held in May 2017.

”We have agreed the asks and boundaries of the city region,” Green said. “Many of us are not enthusiasts for a directly elected mayor, and are opponents in principle but we have to take a pragmatic approach and swallow our doubts if it is the price we pay to get the powers.”

He said he recognised Osborne was a very good politician and that the West Yorkshire leaders would not enter the devolution arrangement “with their eyes closed”. “We have been having to implement massive cuts since 2010 and getting the blame,” Green said. “But we think if we get the devolved powers, we will be able to get a bigger bang for our buck.”

Osborne said: “Earlier this summer, I asked cities to give us their ideas for how they could take greater control of their own affairs and be a full part of the Northern Powerhouse. I asked them to submit these plans in the first week of September. Some feared that the radical devolution of power to cities at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse would only take root in Greater Manchester.

“Here is the evidence that that’s not the case. Whilst I don’t want to pre-empt any conclusions, it is really encouraging that civic leaders from all parties are engaging in this and coming forward with really interesting proposals. Step by step, we are making the Northern Powerhouse a reality.”

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