Jayne Dowle: How Chancellor missed the point about the North

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement is a good time to take stock, to think about the economics of the Government’s grand plan and to ask a few timely questions.

It is 18 months since the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced his proposals for a massive focus on the North of England. Have you noticed a vast improvement in our lives in the intervening period?

Here was a scheme which was supposed to transform our fortunes. Turn the North back into the engine of the country. Remind the rest of the UK that we already have dynamic cities and a willing and flexible workforce, and that we have the potential at least to develop a transport and communications infrastructure to rival anywhere.

The issue is this: Is the “Northern Powerhouse” all just a mighty public relations exercise, underpinned with some interesting ideas for devolving political power to the regions, or is this actually a real, living, breathing thing that is already benefitting our lives in ways we haven’t even realised?

The overall positive evidence so far has not exactly been overwhelming. I think it’s fair to say that most of the action has been firmly behind the scenes. I’m glad that the Chancellor has somewhat belatedly realised that the North isn’t Manchester and Manchester isn’t the North. The recent announcement of the Sheffield City Region, headed by the very able Sir Stephen Houghton, leader of Barnsley Council, is welcome.

That said though, how many of us could look at South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire and draw a line on the map which delineates this area? And let’s be honest. Most of us wouldn’t really know who was running our towns and cities, as long as the street lights stayed on and the bins got collected.

For the record, I haven’t seen too much evidence of a Powerhouse roaring into action when I’ve been shopping in Barnsley town centre recently.

The busiest time of the retail year doesn’t seem to be bringing much comfort and joy to shopkeepers just yet. I’d wager that if I was to stand outside the market and ask people what it might be and where it might be spotted, they would be equally confused.

A recent poll by the BBC and ComRes found that 44 per cent of people across the North of England hadn’t even heard of the term “Northern Powerhouse”. A further fifth of us had heard of the phrase but knew nothing about it. I reckon that if the option was put to them, another fifth would think it’s a new trendy restaurant in Leeds. And some people would think it was a place that sold irons and tellies.

Can you blame us though? What has the Government done recently to prove its commitment to the North? Stand back while steel production has been mothballed and jobs lost in Redcar and Scunthorpe? If that’s the evidence of the Northern Powerhouse in action, putting industry and enterprise at the heart of the region, then something isn’t quite joining up somewhere.

Here is the nub of the issue. At the very core of the Chancellor’s vision is “connectivity”. Not just via the new rail links offered by HS2 between London and the North, and HS3, improving transport East to West, but by all of us pulling together as one. His idea is that if our great cities – Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Manchester and Liverpool – could combine their might through attracting investment, they could create a super-power to rival London and the South East. Mr Osborne likes to use a football analogy here, to prove that he’s just one of the lads.

Never mind that. I’d like him to use his eyes and ears instead the next time he ventures outside his constituency in leafy Tatton, Cheshire. Instead of focusing on the cities, I’d like him to look to the towns, the villages, the vast swathes of rural landscape and the coastal resorts which make up what we might call “the North”.

It is here – not in the wine bars and meeting rooms of the cities – that we see the North in all its glory (or not). It is here that we see prosperous towns like Harrogate pulling in visitors and businesses, while less gracious places wither and die.

Personally, I think he’s got it wrong. What is clear to me, as it should be to anyone with an interest in the North, is that we’re not a region dominated by cities as such. We’re much more complex and interesting than that.

What Mr Osborne has done though is to foist a London-centric attitude on a huge and divergent part of the UK which can’t be tamed by suburban values and a £150m Oyster card scheme. The Northern Powerhouse is essentially a positive move. However, the Chancellor must realise that it is a house with many rooms. And some of them are still feeling decidedly empty and chilly this November.