THE former Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Heseltine and the new Mayor for West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, will be speaking at an online event considering the extent of public and business understanding and support for devolution, especially in Yorkshire.

The event, online on Tuesday, May 25 from 3.30pm, organised by Policy Yorkshire, in association with Addleshaw Goddard, comes shortly after the first election for the West Yorkshire Mayor which saw around two thirds of voters not participating.

Prior to the election, one poll found that fewer than half of voters in West Yorkshire were aware of it and 97 per cent were unable to identify any of the candidates.

The event will consider how enthused the public and businesses across Yorkshire are about devolution, to what extent they consider the work of Mayors will make a difference to their lives and how they can most effectively be held to account in between elections.

Following the event, a paper will be prepared with recommendations to be distributed to the current Mayors, to those planning for devolution in North and East Yorkshire and to the Government ahead of its forthcoming White Paper on devolution.

Also speaking at the online event include Richard Goodfellow, of Addleshaw Goddard, will give the perspective of the business community.