Yorkshire devolution deadlock risks East-West divide - Hearld

Chris Hearld urges local leaders to make “brave decisions” and tells the Government its Northern Powerhouse vision could be at risk unless the deadlock is broken.

In a letter to The Yorkshire Post, the Leeds-based chairman of leading accountancy firm KPMG in the North writes: “The last thing we need, if we are to fully overcome the North-South economic divide that so clearly imbalances our UK economy, is to create an East-West divide on our own doorstep.”

Mr Hearld is the latest in a series of senior business people in the region to demand progress is made on moves to give Yorkshire more control over its own affairs.

Leeds Chamber president Gerald Jennings last week described the failure to reach agreement as “not acceptable”.

New mayors taking over powers and money from the Government will be elected in areas across England in May including Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.

A planned election for a mayor for South Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and Chesterfield - known as the Sheffield City Region - has been postponed until next year following a legal ruling which raised questions over the process.

No agreement has been reached over how North, East and West Yorkshire can secure powers and money through elected mayors.

The latest effort to find a way forward is a proposal for a single elected mayor for the whole of Yorkshire.

However, Northern Powerhouse Minister Andrew Percy, the Brigg and Goole MP, has rejected the idea.