YP Letters: Business must lead where the politicians have failed North

THE withdrawal of Chesterfield and Bassetlaw from the Mayoral Combined Authority process comes as no surprise. Politicians will forever serve only to muddy the waters. Their endless posturing, point-scoring and prevarication will ensure the Northern Powerhouse proposals go nowhere.

As is becoming increasingly clear, if the North wants to establish a Powerhouse, the business leaders of the North are the ones that must create it. Politicians are only ever part of the problem and never part of the solution.

The notion of a Northern Powerhouse came into being in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish referendum when David Cameron committed his government to ensuring that whatever concessions were made to secure Scottish devolution should apply equally to English regions.

Since then, there have been efforts by all political parties, not least the Conservatives themselves, to kick this commitment into the long grass.

Moreover, the General Election pantomime ought to tell us everything we need to know about political commitment to a Northern Powerhouse. The Tories are hoisted by their own petard, Labour would never support a “capitalist strategy” to empower big business and the Lib Dems are sunk.

There is therefore no effective Parliamentary support to be found for Northern devolution and ministers are powerless – 
as well as unwilling – to act.

It is time for a Northern Business Leaders Congress to hammer out a constitution for the Northern Powerhouse (to the exclusion of politicians; if necessary, barring them at the door). The Congress can determine its own parameters, but should certainly comprise demands for economic expansion, regional infrastructure development, transport policy and skills provision. Then – and only then – will the Northern Powerhouse move forward.

It has taken a long time to realise that politics is a game of charades. A £1bn “bung” to buy the loyalty of Northern Ireland demonstrates the depth of desperation of the political classes to cling like limpets to a vestige of power.

The emperor really does have no clothes and the sooner the business community sees his nakedness, the sooner they’ll organise themselves into a Power Confederacy to take charge of the really important industrial strategy issues. The tail’s been wagging the dog for too long and it’s time business woke up.