YP Comment: Social care '“ PM beats a retreat

Theresa May came under fire over social care during the launch of her Welsh manifesto.

As Prime Minister and party leader, this was Mrs May’s manifesto and she should have thought through the consequences of the proposals before beating a retreat 96 hours after the formal launch in Halifax – one of the quickest u-turns in electoral history.

So much for Mrs May’s much-vaunted “strong and stable” leadership. She sounded shrill and rattled when she told reporters that “nothing has changed, nothing has changed” after being pressed about the terms of the consultation that will follow if the Tories are returned to office.

There also appears to be signs of a breakdown of discipline within the PM’s inner circle – details of her concession were leaked to George Osborne, the former Chancellor, who then mocked Mrs May in a withering editorial in the Evening Standard, the  paper he edits, which concluded: “Just as well, really, that this manifesto wasn’t written on a tablet of stone.”

Yet the irony, as Labour continue to break the bank with its electoral promises, is that Mrs May’s instincts are correct. Britain has been spending beyond its means for too long and long-term changes to the funding of social care are required to take account of Britain’s ageing population. The longer the day of reckoning is put off, the harder it will be to reconcile these dilemmas.

And though the Tory manifesto guaranteed that no-one would see their total assets depleted below £100,000 as a result of care costs, the apparent rejection of a cap on contributions, due to be pegged at £72,000 from 2020, led many to conclude that the elderly would pay the price for these reforms as the Tories looked to reconfigure the ecomomy on the back of the hard-earned money of pensioners.

Coming in the aftermath of a Budget u-turn on NI contributions for the self-employed, another self-inflicted own goal, Mrs May needs to reappraise how she forms policy rather than blaming others. After all, this doesn’t bode well for Brexit – the issue that triggered this election.

Business chief’s warning on devolution

RICHARD Flint’s trenchant – and timely – comments on regional devolution are all the more significant because he’s not a politician.

He’s a respected business leader who knows, from experience, that Yorkshire will the biggest loser of all if this impasse is not ended.

And when the managing director of Sky Betting and Gaming, a company at the forefront of the region’s digital devolution, warns that Yorkshire “won’t be as competitive as other regions that do have mayors”, Yorkshire’s political leaders do need to take note.

After all, this is an entrepreneur who is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit staff of the right calibre because young people from this region don’t have the core skills that will enable them to flourish in a digital first economy.

He says Yorkshire is invariably at its best when it pulls together in the same direction, and believes that a directly-elected mayor focusing on transport and skills will transform this region’s future prospects.

Yet, even though there are many politicians who cite these two policy spheres as personal priorities of their own, they’re still unable to agree a framework which meets the county’s needs. In light of Mr Flint’s intervention, there should be a joint meeting of every Yorkshire MP, and council leader, as soon as possible after the June 8 election to agree a fresh start. If not, they will be guilty of putting self-interest before the region’s greater good.

Leading the way

IT is a measure of the economic, social and cultural transformation taking place in Leeds that the city has been named as one of this year’s top European destinations by the Lonely Planet travel guide.

This has not happened overnight. This accolade – potentially priceless if it leads to an upsurge in tourists wanting to sample Leeds’s world famous hospitality for themselves – follows decades of hard work turning this industrial powerhouse into a cutting-edge city.

And while this award will inevitably rekindle the debate about the city’s transport deficiencies – trams operate in Zagreb which headlines the Lonely Planet’s top 10 list – this is one occasion when everyone in Leeds should come together to celebrate this special status and ensure that this summer’s visitors enjoy the warmest of Yorkshire welcomes.