Why Yorkshire needs to speak with one voice and demand devolution - Lord Newby

Against this, we have been curiously passive in putting up with the over-centralised structure in the UK, which denies people in Yorkshire any say on a multitude of public policy decisions which affect them.

We grumble about Westminster and Whitehall, but we do nothing to challenge them.

Surely, now is the time to change this.

This isn’t mainly because at present we’ve got a chaotic Government. The truth is that for decades Yorkshire has punched below its weight at a national level and has lost out as a result.

Despite all its strengths, Yorkshire is an economic under-performer. Economically, with the exception of the North East it is the lowest performing region in England. And the principal reason is the lack of investment, particularly on transport.

This pattern of low spending on transport has been going on for years, as other regions have been more successful in lobbying for funds. But the past year has been particularly disastrous.

First we had the cancellation of HS2 to Leeds – a body blow to travelling north-south. Then we had a downgrading of plans to make transpennine rail fit for the 21st century – a body blow to east -west travel.

Then recently we had the decision to close the Robin Hood Airport – a body blow to international travel. These decisions guarantee that people in Yorkshire will be poorer than they could – and should – have been.

If Yorkshire had got its political act together, could speak with one voice and really lobby effectively, decisions like this would be much easier to prevent or reverse.

And it’s not just transport where a lack of a Yorkshire-wide voice costs us dear. The same applies to skills, economic development, tourism and housing

The Government would respond that it has devolved some power to Yorkshire via the creation of combined authorities and with Mayors in South and West Yorkshire, with another planned for North Yorkshire. But this new patchwork quilt of bodies and responsibilities simply lacks the resources and powers to carry real clout. And by dividing the county into four – something never before attempted in thousands of years of our history – the Government knows that it can play one subregion off against the other and stymie the development of a coherent voice for the county as a whole.

Saying that Yorkshire should take more control of its destiny does however raise some big issues. Exactly what powers should it have? How would it generate the resources to pay for itself? And what kind of body should run the county?

Personally, I would like Yorkshire, as happens with Scotland and Wales, to receive a block grant covering a wide range of devolved public services – including health and education. It would then be up to Yorkshire to decide how this money could be best spent, reflecting local circumstances, to deliver national public policy outcomes. I’d like to see the county raising some of its own revenue. And I’d like it to have an elected assembly to give democratic accountability.

I realise that some people who want Yorkshire to have greater control of its destiny would start by looking to gain a smaller range of powers and, instead of having a wholly elected body, elect a Mayor who would then have to work with a committee made up of the leaders of all the local councils across Yorkshire.

And of course, as Scotland and Wales have shown, having once got a measure of devolution, it’s quite possible to extend its scope over time.

We can expect no moves towards greater devolution during this Parliament. But an election is at most just over two years away.

So the question now for citizens and political parties across Yorkshire is, are we happy with the status quo? If not, we need to coalesce around a plan. There is precedent on how to do this. In Scotland in the run-up to the 1997 General election, an all-Party convention, chaired by a non-politician, met intensively and produced a blueprint for Scottish devolution. This was used by the Blair Government as the basis of the devolution legislation itself. We should now do the same in Yorkshire.

The One Yorkshire Committee, consisting of the Mayors and local council leaders, along with business and union representatives and convened by the Archbishop of York, has been lobbying for devolution for several years. But its work needs more urgency and more depth. The next opportunity is a real chance for change, not just at national level but also for the county. We shouldn’t miss this chance.

Lord Newby is the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.