Resolved –

Council notes:

·        That devolution would lead to more powers and money to grow our local economy.

·        That a proposal for a One Yorkshire devolution deal has now been submitted to Government with a full economic case for devolution to the region.  Government has previously rejected other proposed devolution deals including Leeds City Region.

·        That the One Yorkshire devolution proposal is signed up to by 18 local authority leaders across party lines and across the region.  It also has strong backing from some Yorkshire MPs and from the Archbishop of York.

·        That a number of English city regions across the country are benefiting from devolution deals, as well as the devolved nations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

·        The population of Yorkshire is roughly equivalent to that of Scotland however Scotland has seen much greater levels of devolution over the past two decades compared to Yorkshire. 

·        Yorkshire forms a single recognisable economically coherent region, with a common culture, dialect, and identity which is one of the strongest in the UK.

·         Powers should be devolved as far as possible with decisions that affect residents being made by Local Government and even neighbourhood level where that is possible.

This Council calls for:

1.    A regional devolution deal for Yorkshire consisting of a single directly elected mayor acting with a cabinet made up of elected members from each local authority across Yorkshire. Both sub regional, thematic and sectoral sub-committees to be made up of business, civic, third sector and elected members.

2.    Election of the directly elected mayor to be by supplementary voting method as per the existing Mayoral legislation already laid down in the House of Commons.

3.    The principle of subsidiarity to be followed when determining at what level decisions of resource allocation to be made.  We aspire to the powers devolved to Yorkshire being equivalent to those devolved to the Scottish Parliament, this to be achieved with Government’s consent over time.

4.    The powers and funding of regional and sub-regional bodies to be subsumed into the One Yorkshire framework over time.

5.    Above all, a constructive conversation regarding devolution with the Government at the earliest opportunity would be welcomed.

ACTION:        Chief Executive