Dull Devo Deal or No Deal - slammed....by Lord O'Neill

Dull devo proposals slammed

By Dan Peters | 04 October 2017

Just a handful of the 38 devolution proposals put forward from cities, towns and counties across the UK two years ago actually reached top politicians, a former Treasury minister has revealed.

Speaking at a recent conference hosted by the Southern Policy Centre think-tank, former commercial secretary to the Treasury, Lord O’Neill, admitted that ‘not many of them actually got beyond officials to the attention of the ministers and close advisers that were involved’.

Proposals were submitted through the Department for Communities and Local Government but the ex-minister suggested only a very small number actually reached his desk in the Treasury.

Lord O’Neill said one reason for this was ‘not that many had things that stood out that made them look particularly interesting’.

He said: ‘A lot of people would just come along and say: “Can you give us our GVA version of money that you gave to Sheffield?” What, that’s it? What is it you really want to do?’

Lord O’Neill said he was ‘sympathetic’ to frustrations that the Government’s approach to devolution was too focused on urban areas but defended the stance.

He continued: ‘If you want to make a difference nationally, by definition the places you have got to give the biggest amount of early attention to are the urban ones, which makes many people who are not in urban areas, say: “What about us?”

‘But, if you are approaching this from trying to change the national economy, it is reality that you must give primary attention to the urban areas.’

Lord O’Neill also blamed politics for the failure of a number of regions to elect a mayor.

He added: ‘There were at least two urban-based deals that didn’t happen, because of Conservative Party politics. It would be dressed up for other reasons publicly, but that’s why it didn’t happen.

‘The other big place where we never got a deal – and it’s sort of ridiculous – is Leeds. It gets dressed up in all sorts of crazy things, but it is because of the marginal Tory, or what is perceived to be marginal Tory seats in West Yorkshire.’

 

Just thought it was worth giving this a wider audience, what we have been saying in West Yorkshire for the past couple of years.

 

 

Size Dosen't Matter

I KNOW SIZE DOSEN'T MATTER - BUT

Just out of interest these are the latest populations for Leeds City Region.

Leeds                                        766,399
Bradford                                   528,155
Kirklees                                    431,020
Wakefield                                 331,379
Calderdale                                207,376
York                                         204,439
Harrogate                                 157,267
Selby                                          85,355
Craven                                       55,696

LESSER YORKSHIRE

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.   

DEVO Latest

DEVO LATEST for Leeds City Region

West Yorkshire, and York are studying the latest information from the treasury as to the "offer". The "offer" that is still conditional on acceptance of a Directly Elected Mayor. Officers have been tasked with publicising the "Offer" as soon as we are allowed to, accepting that this might not be the final offer. The treasury have moved a long way towards accepting the "Wants" put to them, but the devil may well be in the detail.

As to the "Geography", it appears that North Yorkshire have indicated that they will prevent the three districts who have been invited to join the Leeds City Region, Harrogate, Selby and Craven from joining. A compromise of "associate membership" has been suggested, but it is acknowledged that this could create a great deal on confusion, not least in who would vote for "The Mayor".

The Conservatives continue to lobby for their ridiculously misnamed "Greater" Yorkshire. This is Yorkshire less South Yorkshire, in every version of English I understand this is "Lesser" Yorkshire. We can only speculate why they favour this gerrymandered geography, is their attempt to create a Conservative safe seat for a Mayor connected to the fact, that whilst councillors are to be banned for standing for Mayor, no such ban has been applied to MP's, it is rumoured that some Yorkshire Conservative MP's have threatened to vote against the government unless they get their own way, surely this can't be true.

The next few weeks are set to be hectic, and for those of us opposed to Directly Elected Mayors we are going to have to make a difficult decision, one way or the other. I have asked for a special full council meeting to be held so we can continue the discussion.