July 20: Yorkshire must lead from front as North East steals a march

As The Yorkshire Post challenges the region’s political leaders to put in place a leadership structure that maximises this county’s economic potential, this necessity is made even more paramount by the changing dynamics to the devolution debate.

Prior to the election, the Government’s focus was on the empowerment of specific cities so they could become drivers of growth. However this changed when political leaders in the North West realised that the rewards could be even greater if they worked together on a range of policy issues allied to transport and economic development.

And it explains why the North East could follow suit. In the wake of last week’s devolution deal for Cornwall, the Government – emboldened by the Tory party’s election victory on May 7 – clearly now advocates a more regional approach when it comes to policy powers passing from Whitehall to the English regions.

It is also significant that Greater Manchester, and now the North East, want to be at the vanguard of this agenda, and in a better position to seize the initiative. Like Yorkshire, they, too, are integral to George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse plan and all three regions will need to work together to ensure that the North can win a new generation of jobs and transport investment.

That is why the question of leadership is now so important and cannot be ducked by those who have allowed local jealousies to stand in the way of change. As the one English county with a truly national and international identity, Yorkshire should be leading from the front rather than no man’s land in the centre where others dictate the debate on their terms.

If a regional model is good enough for Greater Manchester and the disparate counties of the North East, what is there to stop Yorkshire doing likewise so this region’s cities, towns, villages and coastal communities can prosper in a devolved UK? Opponents of a more regional approach to policy-making now need to answer this question.

Tactical blunders: PM’s Syria stance compromised

THE Prime Minister has allowed his long-awaited counter-extremism speech, promised in response to Muslim families being lured to Syria by the so-called Islamic State, to be seriously compromised by two tactical blunders that are likely to undermine, still further, the already strained relationship between the Government and those at risk of being radicalised.

First, it emerged via a Freedom of Information request – rather than a statement to Parliament – that RAF pilots embedded with American and Canadian counterparts had, in fact, been bombing IS targets. This is despite MPs refusing to sanction a request by the Government two summers ago for the mandate for air strikes to be extended from Iraq to Syria. The fact that 10 Downing Street has confirmed that David Cameron was aware of the RAF involvement adds to the Government’s predicament.

And then Mr Cameron used a weekend interview with an American television network to pledge to help the US to “destroy” self-styled IS extremists in Syria. Leaving aside the emotive language that is an unhelpful legacy of the Tony Blair and George W Bush era of military intervention, the Prime Minister should, again, have been making such a major foreign policy speech to Parliament so he can be cross-examined by democratically-elected MPs.

Mr Cameron might regard this as a political inconvenience, but it is a necessary price to pay for the trust that was broken over the ill-fated Iraq invasion and the ability to explain how British values are compatible with those young Muslims who could be further alienated by the UK escalating its military action in the Middle East.

Conservation cuts: Parks are national institutions

TODAY’S warning that cost cuts are threatening conservation work in the country’s National Parks, including the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and Peak District, will 
alarm many of the 90 million people who visit these cherished areas each year.

It also brings into sharp focus the future of countryside communities in a devolved Britain.

Once again, George Osborne’s summer Budget neglected to mention the rural economy which is worth £17bn a year in Yorkshire alone.

And it is also important that the county’s rural heartlands are not ignored in the devolution debate – these are areas that could be left even more marginalised if politicians pursue a city-region model of leadership.

Yet, without these idylls, Yorkshire would be a much poorer place.