Fighting for a fair deal

One aspect of the situation that Mr Cameron has not said much about, however, is the rising number of job losses in this region. It is one thing to laud the success of his Chancellor’s growth strategy but if it is only benefiting London and the Home Counties, then it is failing.

This is not to decry the progress that the South-East is making in the teeth of terrible economic conditions. After all, if Yorkshire’s manufacturing and retail sectors are to stage a revival, they will need other regions to prosper as well if only to provide a customer base. But all the evidence suggests that, while the South-East is going forwards, Yorkshire is going backwards.

Certainly that is the message contained in a new study by accountants KPMG and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which forecasts a jobs contraction in the North, further widening the North-South divide.

Indeed, it paints a dismal picture, with sinking manufacturing confidence scuppering the Government’s hopes of a swift revival led by the private sector and the prospect of harder times to come as the cuts bite and the international situation worsens.

If Mr Cameron is to achieve his aim of rebalancing Britain’s economy in such harsh conditions, he will need more than warm words and good intentions.

This region needs more people speaking up for it in the corridors of Whitehall, but the Government as a whole needs more Ministers who are prepared to make the case for business, for cutting back Labour’s mountain of employment law, reducing taxation and focusing properly on growth to the exclusion of all else.

In the present environment, the competition for business is going to get ever more intense and the Yorkshire region has to be given a fighting chance.