Proposed compromise for South Yorkshire to get more power from the government
MPs debated Yorkshire devolution in Parliament last night
We could be a step closer to getting more powers here in South Yorkshire over things like healthcare and transport.
Yorkshire MPs talked about more power and money coming here in a Parliament debate last night.
Leaders in South Yorkshire have disagreed over devolution recently and who should be involved.
Barnsley and Rotherham want all of Yorkshire to join together to get a deal, and a mayor for the whole region.
Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis says Yorkshire's fallen behind other parts of the country:
"All of us know that Yorkshire’s got great potential, we could, and should be a powerhouse, but at the moment we don’t have that kind of focal point to draw us together.
"It’s about attracting jobs, it’s about getting more investment into Yorkshire and Humber, it’s about enabling us to compete with other parts of the country.
"Britain is leaving the European Union next year; we’ve got to get ready for that and I think the best way in which we do get ready is to put in place a Yorkshire-wide solution which’ll give us the best opportunity to thrive outside the European Union."
But Sheffield and Rotherham want to push on with the current plan: a deal and a mayor for South Yorkshire first.
There's already an election planned for one here in May.
Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts says a Yorkshire-wide mayor wouldn’t work:
"I see it as being a centralising move rather than a devolutionary move.
"Advanced manufacturing is doing very well in Sheffield and Rotherham at present. We don’t achieve that by going round the Far East waving a banner saying ‘Come to Yorkshire.’
"We actually do it by hard graft and a local, industrial strategy."
Dan Jarvis has come up with a compromise after the government wrote to the leaders of Barnsley and Doncaster Councils.
Under his plan there would be an appointed South Yorkshire mayor for 2 years until a Yorkshire-wide deal is sorted in time for 2020.
At that point, Barnsley and Doncaster could join the wider region deal, while the rest of our county stays with a South Yorkshire one.
Dan hopes that cross-party agreement means his proposal will come out on top in the end:
"Don’t forget that there is wide cross-party support for this across the county. In North Yorkshire we’ve got Conservative local authority leaders who are supporting the wider Yorkshire deal. In the end we’ve got to work together to serve the best interests of the people of Yorkshire and Humber."
But the government say they have no plans to cancel the South Yorkshire mayoral election in May.