LESSER YORKSHIRE
In a blatant exercise in gerrymandering the Conservatives in parts of Yorkshire have bullied the Chancellor (remember he needs their votes for his leadership bid) into considering their "Lesser Yorkshire" bid for devolution. They call it "Greater" Yorkshire, I am not sure if this says more about their misunderstanding of the English language, or their desperate bid to disguise their gerrymandering. It obviously worked to some degree as their bid is being supported by their Newspaper, The Yorkshire Post (not sure if that is the Lesser or Greater Yorkshire Post.)
There are though some very serious reasons why the Conservative bid could be damaging both to West Yorkshire and to the "Northern Powerhouse". Some of the reasoning behind the move to devolution is to stimulate Growth in the economy. Between them South and West Yorkshire count for over 90% of the economic activity in Yorkshire, any attempt to stimulate Growth must be concentrated in these areas to be successful. In contrast the main activity outside these areas, with a few exceptions such as the Humber Ports, are based on Farming and Tourism, both activities that require a great deal of subsidy to sustain current levels of activity, never mind delivering any growth.
Imagine a "Lesser" Yorkshire Mayor, probably a farmer or a Tory MP (or both) who looses his/her seat in the gerrymandering of constituency boundaries being pushed through at the moment. Where will they be concentrating their efforts to please their "electorate". We have already heard them justifying their Mayoral bid in the terms of Rural Broadband or tackling "Rural Crime", no doubt they will also be against any developments in the Rural Areas. It must also be remembered that Farmers don't pay Commercial Rates, don't pay Fuel Duty, so they are obviously keen to get their hands onto the Rates paid in the Urban areas to make up for their lack of income.
