YP Comment: Speak up or pay the price over Brexit. Yorkshire needs coherent voice

THE importance of Yorkshire speaking with a more coherent voice is made even more urgent by today's revelation that the Government has no definitive plans to replace the funding that this county receives each year from the European Union.
Yorkshire could miss out on regional funding as a result of Brexit.Yorkshire could miss out on regional funding as a result of Brexit.
Yorkshire could miss out on regional funding as a result of Brexit.

Even though Brexit Secretary David Davis is the longstanding Haltemprice and Howden MP, and his constituency neighbour Andrew Percy is the Northern Powerhouse Minister, there’s a growing sense that this region is becoming overlooked.

It’s certainly true that Yorkshire is not helping itself when it comes to the impasse over devolution – the Government has already intimated that elected mayors will speak for regional leaders when Mr Davis holds a summit in York to ascertain their views. It’s also paradoxical that this region voted by a considerable margin to leave the EU when its most deprived areas are the beneficiaries of a myriad of regeneration programmes. Coupled with the public’s indifference towards forces of globalisation, this is further proof that the Remain case was poorly articulated ahead of last June’s referendum.

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And while the Government will contend that nothing can be decided ahead of the triggering of Article 50, and the conclusion of negotiations with the EU, Treasury chief secretary David Gauke’s apparent reticence towards at the North is at odds with the various undertakings given by Boris Johnson, now Foreign Secretary, on the campaign trail.

Though Brexit supporters maintain that Britain’s liberation from the EU will stop the situation where the UK receives less funding than it pays into the Brussels pot, Yorkshire will struggle to become an economic powerhouse without the £100m a year that it receives under present arrangements.

To his credit, Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis has spotted the ambiguity and expressed his dismay. If Yorkshire is not to be left on the margins, others – whether they be business leaders or politicians from across the spectrum – need to start doing likewise.

Out of order: Bercow breaks Speaker’s rules

THE furore surrounding the Speaker needs to be placed in context. Despite his evident self-importance, John Bercow has empowered backbenchers and, much to the irritation of obfuscating Ministers, has allowed them to ask urgent questions on the prescient issues of the day. He’s also become a global ambassador for Parliament and the democratic process, even though some of his expense claims have been eyewatering in the extreme.

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It was on one of these goodwill visits to Reading University where it now emerges that Mr Bercow expressed personal views on the EU referendum just days before he used the Speaker’s chair to accuse Donald Trump of being sexist and racist and to say that he was personally opposed to the US President addressing both Houses of Parliament during this summer’s state visit.

While many agree with Mr Bercow’s candour, each new revelation diminishes the authority of his own office, and becomes an unnecessary distraction, when there are issues like Brexit, the economy and the NHS to debate. As Parliament’s own website states: “The Speaker is the chief officer and highest authority of the House of Commons and must remain politically impartial at all times.”

The fact that guests on yesterday’s political programmes were all asked for their views on Mr Bercow, and that he only received a less than fulsome endorsement from Commons leader David Lidington, suggests the Speaker is at risk of losing the confidence of sufficient Tory MPs to make his position untenable. Given Yorkshire’s very own Betty Boothroyd never found herself in such a predicament, perhaps some humility, and a vow of silence, are the order of the day. After all, the Speaker is supposed to be above politics.

Never forgotten

IN a year celebrating Hull’s artistic legacy, it’s fitting that City of Culture should coincide with the unveiling of a new memorial honouring more than 6,000 trawlermen lost at sea.

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On a piercingly cold winter’s day which was a reminder of the hardships faced by fishing communities, those gathered on the quayside were heartened by the presence of the Archbishop of York as he blessed Peter Naylor’s new sculpture which is a stunning piece of art in its own right. Though Hull is proud of its fishing heritage, the sadness is that it took so long for this public tribute to come to pass – a wrong now put right – or for wider appreciation of the city’s sacrifices.