MEMBERS of a political party which campaigns for the establishment of a Yorkshire parliament have overwhelmingly voted to change its name.

Leaders of Yorkshire First, which was set up to lobby for the region to be devolved, said the group would be known as the Yorkshire Party after receiving the support of 97 per cent of members who voted in a ballot.

In a further change, Richard Carter, the party's leader, has stood down citing work commitments and its deputy leader, Stewart Arnold, has been endorsed as acting leader until the party's conference in October.

Mr Arnold said the rebranding would allow the party, which is believed to have stood in 14 constituencies and won 7,000 votes in last year's general election, "to continue to grow and develop as an optimistic and inclusive party".

He said: "Ever since its formation in April 2014, Yorkshire First members and other supporters of our overall aims have suggested that the Yorkshire Party may be a more positive and inclusive name for our party to adopt.

"The name the Yorkshire Party had previously been unavailable unfortunately, but that has been overcome recently and the entire membership has been balloted on the proposed name change."