Thomas as Director and Paul Jagger as chairman. Jagger claimed in 1999 that Yorkshire had as much right to a regional parliament or assembly as Scotland and Wales because Yorkshire 'has as clear a sense of identity as Scotland or Wales.' One of those brought into the Campaign for Yorkshire by Jane Thomas was Herbert Read scholar Michael Paraskos, who organised a series of events in 2000 to highlight the distinctiveness of Yorkshire culture. This included a major exhibition of Yorkshire artists. Paraskos also founded a Yorkshire Studies degree course at Hull University. Interviewed by The Guardian newspaper, Paraskos linked the start of this course to the contemporary devolution debates in Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, claiming: In March 2013, the Yorkshire Devolution Movement was founded as an active campaign group by Nigel Sollitt, who had administrated the social media group by that name since 2011, Gareth Shanks, a member of the social media group, and Stewart Arnold, former Chair of the Campaign for Yorkshire. In September 2013, the executive committee was joined by Richard Honnoraty and Richard Carter (as an advisor), who had also been involved in the Campaign for Yorkshire. The Movement campaigns for a directly elected parliament for the whole of the traditional county of Yorkshire with powers second to no other devolved administration in the UK. Two Combined Authorities, which serve to devolve certain powers, have been established in Yorkshire, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and the Sheffield Combined Authority, in South Yorkshire. A mayoralty has been established in the Sheffield City Region, and elections for the Mayor of West Yorkshire are due to take place in 2021. An alternative proposal was also made for a cross-Yorkshire Authority, dubbed "One Yorkshire", which was supported by 18 of the 20 Yorkshire councils, with Sheffield and Rotherham both preferring the South Yorkshire alternative. The government rejected the devolution deal, and alongside the two existing authorities, further proposals have been made in North Yorkshire and the East Riding, although some support for the whole Yorkshire deal has continued. In 2014, Richard Carter, Stewart Arnold and Richard Honnoraty, founded Yorkshire First, a political party campaigning for the creation of a Yorkshire parliament by 2050 based on the Scottish Parliament. It was later renamed the Yorkshire Party. A Social democratic party, it has parish, town, district and county councillors, and stood in 28 constituencies in the 2019 general election. Yorkshire Party candidates