West Yorkshire leaders have called for the government to “give us more” power, with one claiming the region’s current devolution deal comes with too many “strings attached”.

Mayor Tracy Brabin and Shabir Pandor, the leader of Kirklees Council, said local figureheads needed more authority and “trust” from Westminster to improve public transport and tackle the skills shortage.

Mayoral authorities Greater Manchester and West Midlands recently reached “trailblazer” deals with the government, which give them more control and influence over policy than other parts of the country.

Speaking at a launch of the ‘West Yorkshire Plan’ on Friday, where the region’s most senior politicians laid out their long-term priorities, Mayor Brabin said more powers were “on the horizon”.

She said: “West Midlands and Great Manchester have got a trailblazer deal, which is a single funding settlement, which gets them away from the beauty contest that we have, to compete against each other. They also have deeper responsibility for skills.

“I’m hearing from businesses every day of the week that the only way we turbo-charge our economy is we have that skilled workforce. My hands are, to some degree, tied. The skills part of that trailblazer deal is incredibly important, but so is franchising and making it easier for us to run transport networks.”

Mayor Brabin said giving West Yorkshire more powers would also help it tackle the climate emergency.

The region’s Combined Authority has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2038, though Leeds and Wakefield Councils have each pledged to reach net zero themselves by 2030.

And although work is set to start on a mass transit system for West Yorkshire by the end of the decade, pleas to the government for funding and backing have received little in the way of supportive messages.

Mayor Brabin added: “Devolution is not going away and there seems to be an arms race between (Communities Secretary) Michael Gove and the Labour Party about who will give away the most power. We’re ready to take it, so give it to us!”

Councillor Pandor backed these calls, telling an audience at Leeds’ Corn Exchange, where the Plan was launched, that the UK is “still the most centralised country in Europe”.

“If you go to European cities, the reason they get a lot further in terms of infrastructure projects is because they give local authorities and local mayors real powers,” he said.

“There’s still a lot of strings attached to devolution deals. We are not an agent of government. We are there to deliver for our communities. We need to have more trust from the government.”