The Local Government Act 2000 allowed all councils in England and Wales to consider a range of options as to how to amend or retain how they operate their executive functions, including the option for a directly elected mayor to lead a local authority instead of an elected councillor selected by their fellow councillors. The Act also provided that a petition of more than 5% of the electorate of a council area could force that council to hold a referendum on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor.
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority was first proposed in 2012 as part of the City Deal for the Leeds City Region. It was negotiated between the coalition government, Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and the five West Yorkshire local government districts of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. The combined authority was established on 1 April 2014, following a public consultation and statutory approval on 31 March 2014. In June 2014, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne proposed elected mayors specifically for the cities of northern England as part of his policy proposal to build a 'Northern Powerhouse'. He cited "a mis-match between the economic importance of the great northern cities and their political clout. Wales has its own parliament, and can pass its own laws. But as the Centre for Cities point out, the economies of Manchester and Leeds are each individually bigger than Wales. But they don’t have a single leader who can speak for the whole area." He offered "serious devolution of powers and budgets for any city that wants to move to a new model of city government - and have an elected Mayor." The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 legislated for the election of new mayors to combined authorities across England and Wales. As no deal had yet been agreed with West Yorkshire, it set out the legal framework for any future mayoralty with the devolution of some powers to West Yorkshire over education and training, economic development, housing and transport subject to the progression of future negotiations. Discussions between the combined authority and HM Treasury continued, with the five Labour council leaders in West Yorkshire opposed to the Conservative government's preferred city region model favouring a 'Mayor of the Leeds City Region'. The model would have included the five West Yorkshire council districts as well as Barnsley, Craven, Harrogate, Selby and York. The five constituent councils eventually formally supported a 'One Yorkshire' proposal to elect a mayor for the entire Yorkshire region. In 2018, the plan was submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire, with the support of 18 of the 20 local councils across Yorkshire. In February 2019, the One Yorkshire proposal was rejected by Brokenshire as it did not meet the government's devolution criteria.
2020 West Yorkshire devolution deal
After further negotiations, it was announced in the March 2020 budget that the government and the West Yorkshire authorities had agreed a proposed West Yorkshire devolution deal. The proposed devolution deal was formally signed on 12 March 2020 in the Nexus building at the University of Leeds. The agreement was signed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Northern Powerhouse MinisterSimon Clarke, the combined authority's Chair and Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe and the four other constituent council leaders: Judith Blake, Denise Jeffery, Shabir Pandor and Tim Swift. It will include handling of a £38 million a year investment from central government for 30 years. The mayor will have control over regional transport, housing, land and adult skills. By 2024 the role will absorb the responsibilities of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire, similar to the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Greater Manchester. A planned public consultation will be undertaken in 2020 before the deal will be finalised. The first mayoral election is proposed for 6 May 2021.
