There are even independent countries, with populations smaller than that of Yorkshire.  

These include: Iceland (320,000), Luxembourg (525,000) and Malta (455,000) 

There are also countless examples of smaller regions that have devolved governments. Closer to home Wales (which has an Assembly!) has a population of just over 3,000,000 and the gross domestic product for Wales in 2019 was approximately £77.5 billion. By contrast the gross domestic product of Yorkshire in 2019 was £146,8 billion and a population of 5.4 million (2019)