Devolution debate: ‘Give us independence, but not a costly mayor’
Councillor Daren Hale
With a consultation on a proposed devolution deal for Hull and East Yorkshire now under way, we hear the views of political leaders in their own words. This first piece is by Daren Hale, Labour group leader at Hull City Council
For years we have heard the tired Lib-Dem mantra “Labour do not listen”.
But when the Lib Dem Council bosses have the chance to consult the public on the biggest change to Local Government in this area since 1972, they denied that chance.
They have voted in the council chamber to deny the people of Hull a say in whether they want an elected mayor for East Riding & Hull, or not.
Now let’s get this straight, Labour are not against devolution. In power in Hull we were negotiating a deal with sensible East Riding Tories to co-operate on areas of common interest. Like we always have done.
I regularly used to speak for both authorities at the Transport for the North Board when East Riding colleagues were unable to attend. When they were present we were a powerful bulwark fighting for this side of the Pennines.
That was mutual respect co-operating for the shared good but recognising our different demographics and constituencies. Our pitch was for a combined authority, taking additional powers off of Whitehall but at no extra cost for the tax-payer of our areas.
At the time, the legendary (now tragically late) head of regeneration for Hull City Council , Mark Jones, said Hull should not get out of bed with any devolution deal which offered less than £15million a year for 20 years locked-in for Hull.
Rather than such a pitch, the Hull Lib Dems and the East Riding Tory leaders have jumped at a deal that offers little.
In return for having a mayor they might get £13m a year for both authorities being spent through a mayoral office.
That means Hull is not even guaranteed £6.5million. Which is peanuts when compared to the £130million of revenue which has been robbed every year from Hull City Council since the austerity marriage of Tory/Lib Dem Governments 2010-15, and the subsequent Tory shower ever since.
So why at the fag-end of a Tory Government, when this discredited bunch are about to fall, would the councils rush to do a poor deal with the Government?
This is an especially vexed question when we arranged a meeting with the Labour shadow front-bench where they articulated that under a Labour Government, devolution would not come with the pre-requisite requirement of a Mayor! As the Labour Shadow Minister said, “it is not for us to proscribe what the best form of devolution for your area is”.
Hull Labour, and our three MPs, share the view that Hull deserves better. A mayoral office will cost likely £1-2million a year (West Yorkshire's costs £3.5m), and it has to have FOUR statutory officers, none of whom will get shy of £60,000 a year each (£80,000 with add-on costs!).
An offer to pay for this for two years from Government does not cut it. Especially as this mayor, unlike a combined authority, would have their own tax-raising powers, and can stick your rates up.
We are therefore in the ridiculous position that in Hull/East Riding, we would be the smallest “mayoral area” in the country with 600,000 people with the most layers of bureaucracy in the country.
Let me explain. In London you are faced with two precepts; your council and the Mayor of London, which covers police, fire and transport. In Hull, because fire and police are Humberside-wide you will get NO economies of scale.
The council, the police commissioner, the fire authority, and the mayor will all have the ability to take money off of you. In the East Riding, as they have parish councils, there are five groups with the same ability!
We say give us the devolution, with extra powers but do not require us to have a mayor to do so. A mayor that would have the fraction of the powers of Andy Burnham [Mayor of Greater Manchester] and not even cover 25 per cent of the area of West Yorkshire would not hold the clout required.
Labour said it could have been convinced by a Yorkshire and Humber mayor if it brought genuine economy of scales and wholesale devolution, but this is a nonsense in the dying days of a failed Tory Government.
We may be wrong, the public may think otherwise, and want a further layer of political bureaucracy. So let the people decide in a genuine referendum. We should never be scared of the electorate.
The consultation runs until February 27. You can read the proposal and give your feedback at heydevolution.com.