YP Comment: Every vote will defy terrorists. The true price of democracy

Yet the most effective response of all will be the simple act of voting today. Irrespective of where you mark your ‘X’ on the ballot paper, every vote cast will be a vote against those Islamist extremists who tried – and failed – to undermine this mass exercise in democracy.

And there’s another point to be made. There are people who lost the right to vote when they were blown up while leaving Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester – or were killed in the carnage witnessed in London last Saturday night.

Some survivors are too ill to participate because they’re still in intensive care while, most poignantly of all, there were children and young people killed in Manchester who will now never get the chance to vote.

Like the suffragettes who gave their lives so the voting franchise could be extended to women, or Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox who was murdered nearly a year ago during the EU referendum campaign, Britain’s democratic process should never be taken for granted. It exists for the public to hold governments to account.

And it should not be forgotten that security policy is now a key electoral issue. This was borne out by Labour taking the unprecedented decision, on the eve of the election, to replace the gaffe-prone Diane Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary with the little-known Lyn Brown who was among those MPs who called for Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation last summer. A decision which has uncanny parallels with Tory Oliver Letwin – the then Treasury chief secretary – going into hiding prior to the 2001 election, it’s a salutary reminder that the electorate today is not just voting for a Prime Minister. They’re voting for a team and they also owe it to each and every terror victim to protect, and indeed strengthen, Britain’s democracy. That’s why every vote matters.

City challenge

IT has been long accepted that a radical overhaul of Yorkshire’s transport infrastructure is integral to the future prospects of this region – and the North. The question now is whether the next Government will grasp the issue’s importance.

Yorkshire has been here before. David Cameron and George Osborne’s 2015 campaign revolved around a commitment to prioritise the electrification of the trans-Pennine railway. Yet, since the last election, the scheme has been delayed and the then Prime Minister and Chancellor are now yesterday’s leaders.

Yet, irrespective of the outcome of today’s poll, one of the next Transport Secretary’s first priorities should be to read the speech being delivered today to Sheffield business leaders by CBI president Paul Drechsler.

Even more topical because business is one of the cornerstone issues that has been marginalised by this unpredictable election, he talks about the region’s potential if travel times between Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester were halved to 30 minutes. He believes that this “would spark a quiet revolution in the North” and mean 18 million people were living within an hour of Leeds. In fairness, local regional and national politicians from all parties have spoken of their desire to improve road and rail links between these three great cities. Now they must put their words into action – the potential prize, as Mr Drechsler says, could not be more important to the North’s future.

Raising a glass

IT is heartening to hear how two much-loved Yorkshire companies are joining forces in a bid to give consumers what they want.

Dairy firm Our Cow Molly, run on the outskirts of Sheffield by The Yorkshire Post’s former farmer of the year Eddie Andrew, has agreed a deal to supply milk to local branches of Morrisons, the national supermarket chain that famously began life as an egg and butter stall in Bradford in 1899.

While Our Cow Molly may not have the same national name recognition as Morrisons, it does have a similar background – this is a proud Yorkshire family business started back in 1947 by Mr Andrew’s grandfather Hector.

Their new work for Morrisons is one likely to be welcomed by customers as part of the supermarket’s ongoing efforts to provide shoppers with more of the locally-sourced produce that they have been requesting. Both parties will hope consumers will soon be raising a glass of milk or two to the venture’s success.