LABOUR councillor Mehboob Khan has signed up for a regional assembly for Yorkshire.
Clr Khan met Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to sign up to Labour's Yes campaign.
Clr Khan said: "There are 80 quangos - quasi autonomous non-government organisations - making decisions and spending hundreds of millions of pounds on behalf of Yorkshire people, without the people having a direct say in those decisions."
Clr Khan, a councillor for Birkby and leader of the Labour group on Kirklees Council, added: "I am backing the Government's move to give more say to people in every English region.
"If people in Scotland, Wales and London can vote on major decisions affecting their lives, it is time people in the Yorkshire and the Humber region had a voice."
Mr Prescott said: "People in Yorkshire should be making the decisions about issues that affect their lives.
"An elected regional assembly for Yorkshire and the Humber would co- ordinate Government departments in the region.
"It would also undertake far more strategic planning on issues such as housing and transport," added Mr Prescott.
"The assembly would give Yorkshire and the Humber a strong voice to lobby for the jobs, investment and opportunities we need to close the gap between some areas in the North and the South- East."
