This week the house of Commons will discuss Yorkshire’s devolution though Ministers have already made it clear there would be ‘no deal’ for the whole of Yorkshire.
Taking place on Tuesday the debate has been made by the MP John Grogan. News of the that the topic will be discussed in Parliament has been welcomed by the Yorkshire Party.
While the Department for Communities and Local Government have ruled out any deal for the county, the Yorkshire Party feel the Yorkshire should be allowed to go it alone.
Leader of the Yorkshire Party, Stewart Arnold, said;
“The Yorkshire Party is delighted with moves to establish Yorkshire wide devolution as has been widely reported in the weekend’s media. Yorkshire has a population of 5 million people (about the same size as Scotland) and an economy worth around £100bn so it makes sense to give Yorkshire as a whole devolution.
“Devolution has been a long time coming in comparison with other parts of England so we are behind the moves to push this process along.
“However, we don’t support the idea of a mayor with a cabinet made up of the region’s council leaders. Yorkshire is too diverse, in terms of its people, landscape and countryside, to have a single person at the head.
“We would prefer a directly elected (through fair votes) assembly or parliament . Scotland and Wales are just as diverse as Yorkshire and have such devolved arrangements. We want first class devolution – tried and tested in the same way.
Yorkshire Party members discussed plans for a Yorkshire wide assembly at their Annual Conference in York on Saturday and plan to seek people’s views across the region on what they want.
Mr. Arnold added:
“Discussions about Yorkshire devolution have been very much behind closed doors so far. The people should be engaged in this process – it’s their future after all. We plan to take these discussions out to the wider public over the next weeks and months and get their views.”
