A ONE Yorkshire devolution deal would be looked at by the government, but only after South Yorkshire councils agreed to implementing the Sheffield City Region deal along with an elected mayor, due to take place in May this year.

Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry was answering Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis' motion in Westminster Hall this afternoon where Mr Jarvis asked that the Sheffield City Region mayoral election be postponed until 2020 while negotiations for a wider Yorkshire deal, including that for Humberside, be progressed.

The debate followed a referendum in Barnsley and Rotherham before Christmas where 85 per cent of voters voted in support of a One Yorkshire deal.

Mr Jarvis also said a meeting of the so called "coalition of the willing" was meeting in York on Friday when the points about East, West and North Yorkshire's future involvement in the devolution plans would be aired.

He claimed a One Yorkshire deal would bring much deserved funding to the county, whose 5.3 million residents already receive £300 per head less in terms of public spending than their southern counterparts, as well as earning just 80 per cent of the national average.

He also stated transport funding was less than a 10th of that in the south.

"If we are to make Britain healthy again and heal this division, we need a new economic and political settlement.

"In short, if we are serious about closing the north/south divide, the piecemeal changes simply aren't good enough. The solution must be as ambitious as the challenge is profound," Mr Jarvis said.

Mr Jarvis said an interim solution was needed. "I think that with the right political will it is entirely reasonable and achievable for a wider Yorkshire mayoral election to be held in 2020, but as things stand we are on course to elect a manor in May.

"The new mayor would have so few powers and spending up to £2 million on this election would undermine not just his or her position, but the credibility of the whole devolution project."

He suggested appointing an interim mayor for two years while negotiations continued so Sheffield City Region could access the money and power sooner rather than later.

"All we want collectively is the very best for Yorkshire. I ask that the Minister listens to the people. It would be wrong for them to be ignored."

Tracy Brabin, MP for Batley and Spen added: "I believe this is an opportunity for branding, big style.

"Yorkshire has more than played its part with our skilled work force and world-class locations, history, space and value for money. Yorkshire abroad could be a filming attraction the world over.

"It is the New Year. I implore the Minister to make a resolution - make 2018 the year that the whole of Yorkshire sees devolution."

Mr Berry said while he acknowledged Mr Jarvis' debate, he said the government had set out a compromise solution before Christmas to "address the impasse".

"It is proposed that the four South Yorkshire councils agree to do all that is necessary for the Sheffield City Region deal to be implemented as soon as practicable after the mayoral election," said Mr Berry.

"The government - together with the four South Yorkshire councils - would agree that if a One Yorkshire deal was to come forward, a deal would be developed and the government and councils concerned were able to consent to it, that the constituent parts of that existing South Yorkshire deal would be free to leave that deal at the end of the initial mayoral term.

"The government does not intend to undo the legislation of this House to change the date of the election for the South Yorkshire mayoral combined authority."

Mr Jarvis concluded that a lot had changed since the Sheffield City Regional proposals in 2015 - particularly with the country voting to leave the EU - and said it was in "all of our interests to worth together and get the best possible deal".