Back in July, still bathing in the glow of an unexpected outright election victory, George Osborne presented his Summer Budget to MPs. He took the opportunity to hail the devolution deal struck with Greater Manchester last year adding: “The historic devolution that we have agreed with Greater Manchester in return for a directly elected mayor is available to other cities who want to go down a similar path. “I can also tell the house we are working towards deals with the Sheffield and Liverpool City Regions and Leeds, West Yorkshire and partner authorities on far reaching devolution of power in return for the creation of directly elected mayors.” Devolution deals in the case of the Sheffield and Liverpool city regions have indeed been subsequently agreed. Others not mentioned in July covering the West Midlands, Tees Valley and North East have also come to fruition. That leaves “West Yorkshire and partner authorities” as the glaring omission. The Yorkshire Post has documented the wrangling over how devolved powers should be wielded over West, North and East Yorkshire and in the days leading up to today’s statement there have been no indications of an imminent breakthrough. Meetings continue to be held to try and find an end to the deadlock between supporters of the Greater Yorkshire and Leeds City Region proposals. But there are also signs that key players may be willing to walk away from the process altogether, arguing that the tensions over geography and, in the opinion of some, the paucity of offer from the Treasury in terms of powers and money is not worth Mr Osborne’s price of introducing elected mayors. It remains to be seen whether the Chancellor refers to the ongoing debate today, or chooses to gloss over this significant blemish in his Northern Powerhouse vision.
