Alec recently gave the following comment to the press regarding his views on a devolution deal for our region:
“I have maintained throughout this debate that South Yorkshire already has a devolution deal in place with a Mayor elected to deliver for the people of South Yorkshire, so the rest of Yorkshire should now press on with its own deal: a Greater Yorkshire deal. In many ways South Yorkshire has different needs to its neighbours, that’s why it was always treated differently by the European Union and received vast amounts of financial support from the EU’s Regional Objective One Fund whilst the rest of Yorkshire lagged behind. I fear that this is a model we will see replicated in a One Yorkshire deal with funds generated in West, North and East Yorkshire being syphoned off into South Yorkshire. This is not in the best interests of my constituents in West Yorkshire, nor in the interests of councils across North, West and East Yorkshire. At the end of the day, South Yorkshire already has a multi-million pound devolution deal in place and an Elected Mayor charged with delivering for his region. It’s now time for the rest of Yorkshire to pull together and take charge of our own future with a Greater Yorkshire deal.”