HOPES have been dashed that Chancellor George Osborne would today announce a deal to devolve more cash and powers to the Leeds city region.

Mr Osborne made his Budget speech in Parliament this afternoon, but while he announced new devolved justice powers for Greater Manchester, there was no announcement about a deal for Yorkshire.

Two competing bids for devolved powers and metro-mayors had resulted in a political stalemate in Yorkshire, with the Chancellor seemingly unwilling to choose between a bid covering the Leeds city region, mainly backed by Labour politicians, and a rival bid covering West, East and North Yorkshire, mainly backed by Tories.

Business and education leaders in West Yorkshire - including chiefs at Bradford College, Bradford University and the Bradford Chamber of Commerce - had called on the Chancellor to break the deadlock by choosing the Leeds city region deal.

The leader of Bradford Council, David Green, said he was "disappointed" the Chancellor didn't unveil a devolution deal in his Budget speech.

But Cllr Green said that didn't mean the idea was dead, and suggested a deal could still be reached in the coming weeks or months.

Cllr Green said: "We are disappointed there was no announcement but not surprised. We hadn't expected it because of the delays caused by debates about geography in particular.

"We would hope that the Government will recognise the importance of West Yorkshire and the Leeds city region in the economy of the North of England, in line with the rhetoric about the Northern Powerhouse."

Councillor Simon Cooke, Conservative leader at Bradford Council, said he and his Tory counterparts in other West Yorkshire authorities had suggested a political compromise which would have allowed a Leeds city region deal to progress.

But he said after they put this to West Yorkshire's five Labour leaders last week, he "hadn't heard a dicky bird from them".

Roger Marsh, chairman of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, said:  “While we are naturally disappointed that there was no specific mention of progress towards a Leeds City Region devolution deal in today’s budget, we remain optimistic that a deal can be achieved within the 2017 timescales that other northern regions are working towards.

“As our open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer shows, there is strong appetite locally to get the right deal in place as quickly as possible to ensure the economic progress of Yorkshire is not put at risk.

“The Chancellor’s announcements to progress a new line between Leeds and Manchester, accelerate improvements to the M62 and invest in flood defences, show confidence in the Leeds City Region, which is encouraging as we continue our devolution negotiations with government.

“I look forward to working towards a deal that not only benefits our region, but also the North and the nation as a whole.”

Devolution deals have already been struck with other areas of the North, including Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield, as part of Mr Osborne's Northern Powerhouse project.