‘People don’t need another layer of local government’: Hull Labour slam devolution deal

‘IT WOULD BE A BETRAYAL’: Hull Labour group leader Daren Hale. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography

By Simon Bristow

Hull’s opposition Labour group have criticised a proposed devolution deal for the region, saying residents do not need another layer of local government and promises of “jam tomorrow” when the Government has “taken £100m off the [city] council every year since 2010”.

Plans announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt this week could see an election for the first directly elected mayor for Hull and the East Riding in 2025, with £400m of investment for the region – £13.34m a year over 30 years – “to drive growth and deliver local priorities”.

The proposals have been welcomed by the leaders of Hull and East Riding Councils, Liberal Democrat and Conservative respectively, and will be considered at full meetings of both authorities in December.

Hull Labour said in a statement: “Labour doesn’t believe that another layer of local government is what the people of this area wants or needs, especially as we are being shoehorned into one during the fag-end dying days of a failed Tory Government.

“This is an even more disastrous course of action because an incoming Labour Government, next year, has already promised extra powers for councils, and the promise Labour will not force mayors on local people, and local areas can decide on the best model for their areas.”

Councillor Daren Hale, Labour group leader at Hull City Council, said: “Rushing headlong towards a new Lib Dem-Tory coalition around devolution in the dying days of a Tory Government shows terrible weakness from the leader of Hull City Council, Mike Ross.

“I think we know who is the dog and who is the tail in this. Tory and Lib Dem-Tory Governments have stolen £100m of funding from the city every year since 2010, and now these leaders want to get rid of local powers to a mayor for a few crumbs and the promises of jam tomorrow.

“When Humberside [county council] was abolished [in 1996] much of the Hull public wanted the city to get its powers back, now the Lib Dems in Hull are trying to give them away to the Tories in the East Riding with little consultation.

“It would be a real betrayal to local Hull people, who have flatly rejected the Tories, and we believe a vote at a ballot-box should determine whether the public would not rush to support another extra politician, on top of the Police and Crime Commissioner, the fire authority and local councils.”

Subject to councillors’ approval, a statutory public consultation will follow in January.

The full proposals for the Hull and East Riding devolution deal are available to read here.