“The Chancellor is famously committed to his pet project of the Northern Powerhouse to generate growth in the north of England. That is admirable, but Manchester’s opportunity does not have to be at the expense of London’s surging population.”
Last week’s leader column in The Standard robustly defended London’s corner. In a similar vein the Yorkshire Post refused to carry the Prime Minister’s “love letter” to Yorkshire which was virtually identical to the articles his PR team had ghosted about his love for Northumberland, Cornwall, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.
Both articles illustrate that the Northern Powerhouse is still mainly a Manchester Powerhouse. The Standard mistakenly thinks improvements to the trans-Pennine rail link is to benefit Manchester, when in fact it will potentially help Yorkshire far more by improving the link to Manchester Airport which serves far more commercial destinations than Yorkshire’s international airports.
Despite David Cameron’s infamous private comment caught on microphone that everyone in Yorkshire “hated each other” devolution isn’t much farther along than when he made the remark in September last year.
Yorkshire’s cities and towns – with the exception of those in South Yorkshire - have found it harder to forge a common agenda than their cousins across the Pennines. Having spoken privately to senior West Yorkshire politicians another far more compelling reason than enmity is that they don’t think that Manchester or Sheffield struck the best deal. They see the deals as devolving many of the problems associated with austerity, but without the powers and resources to tackle them effectively.
However business and education leaders in Yorkshire are now becoming increasingly frustrated at the slow pace and the day before the budget 60 business and university leaders put their names to an open letter to the chancellor demanding he sign off a deal. They back powers for the Leeds City Region as proposed by the West Yorkshire councils, rather than the greater Yorkshire deal proposed by North Yorkshire County Council, Conservative MPs and some senior Labour figures in Yorkshire.
It says: “As the UK’s largest functional economic area outside London and the South East, the Leeds City Region is clearly central to your vision of an economically successful and globally competitive Northern Powerhouse being fulfilled.” But whilst the budget confirmed HS3 to provide an east-west high-speed rail line across the Pennines, the Chancellor didn’t confirm a devolution deal for the Leeds City Region which will enable it to oversee this transport infrastructure improvement.
The clock is ticking and if the Leeds City Region is to have a democratically elected mayor in May 2017 in line with the other city regions then a deal must be struck quickly. With other areas now having their second and even third devo deal there is a danger Leeds will fall further behind. Expect business leaders – and others - to get increasingly restless at that prospect.
Stuart Bruce FCIPR has earned an international reputation as a pioneer, thought-leader and doer in modernised public relations and public affairs. He is an Associate with Devo Connect.