WHAT'S in a name? Quite a lot, it turns out, when it comes to a name for a new area of Yorkshire set to be handed a raft of powers from the Government.

In the third in a series of five articles looking at devolution, we examine which area would be covered by a deal and what it could be called.

IT is perhaps surprising that with a devolution deal for a large section of Yorkshire just four months away, we still don't know which area we're talking about.

There are fierce debates raging about which towns and cities should and should not be included in moves to devolve new powers down to an area around Leeds.

Bradford and the other four authorities that make up West Yorkshire are almost certainly going to be part of any deal.

But should the footprint also include York? After all, it is part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the body leading the negotiations.

Or perhaps it should be wider still and cover the so-called Leeds City Region, which would also pull in areas like Harrogate and Selby?

Maybe it should be North and West Yorkshire combined, or most of Yorkshire - excluding Sheffield, which has its own deal in the offing.

DEVOLUTION SERIES

Or should the Government simply do a devolution deal for the whole of Yorkshire, bringing the Leeds and Sheffield bids together with rural areas in a model which could then be replicated in any other region of England?

The variations are almost endless, and with a deal set to be unveiled by the Government in November, each political party is now lobbying hard for its preferred footprint.

Bradford Council's Labour leader, Councillor David Green, said there were "three or four different potential geographies" being put forward to the Government.

He said: "I'm not naive enough to believe that they're not being lobbied left, right and centre by people with various views."

Cllr Green, a member of the Combined Authority leading the negotiations, said in his view it should be "manageable and fairly concentrated area" centred on the Leeds City Region to stop it simply becoming another talking-shop.

He said: "The broader and wider we make it, the more wishy-washy it becomes. The more diluted an offer becomes, the more compromises and deals get done, which just dilutes any benefit we get from devolution."

But according to the Conservatives, any deal should include North Yorkshire to cash in on the image of rolling countryside famous the world over.

Councillor Simon Cooke, leader of the Conservative group at Bradford Council, said: "Other than the stuff in Bradford, most of the good stuff in Yorkshire is in North Yorkshire, so if you actually want to take advantage of that image and that power and that Visit Yorkshire-type strength, you have got to include North Yorkshire."

And he warned that if a devolution deal only covered West Yorkshire, "the more likely it is for it to be dominated by Leeds".

The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for a whole-of-Yorkshire deal, to include Sheffield.

Leeds North-West MP Greg Mulholland has been pressing for Yorkshire-wide deal in Parliament, along with a Mayor of Yorkshire.

He said: "A region as rich as ours should be reunited and be given its own mayor - that would be a huge step forward in championing Yorkshire as a whole and all that it has to offer."

And Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Bradford Council, said while Labour argued that Yorkshire was too big an area to be covered by a devolution deal, Scotland was similarly big and "seems to do alright".

She said a key part of the argument for a wider Yorkshire deal was the ability to harness the power of the Yorkshire brand that had made last year's Tour de France Grand Depart such a success, and each year had people turning out in their droves to celebrate Yorkshire Day.

Cllr Sunderland, who also sits on the Combined Authority, said: "In the world of T-shirt wearing, people clearly have an affinity to an area. You often see I Heart New York, and Leeds has the slogan, Leeds: Live It, Love It.

"But 'Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Economic Area' just doesn't cut it for me.

"If we are looking for investment, if we are looking for excitement, then Yorkshire is the brand."

Cllr Cooke added: "My basic premise is that 'Yorkshire', even with some qualifying statement like North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, central Yorkshire or wider Yorkshire, is a much more powerful brand than any of the individual cities or authorities in Yorkshire.

"Even before the Tour de France, Yorkshire was a more accessible international brand.

"It's the only English region that actually has a proper identity."