Rachel Reeves: What now for Yorkshire Forward and the region's economic future?

In their place will be a Regional Growth Fund. In creating this new body, the Government broke its promise – with no consultation or debate – that RDAs would remain in areas where they were popular. This is devastating news for businesses throughout Yorkshire, and for the UK as a whole, with the coalition Government seemingly evermore determined to risk plunging the UK back into recession.

These immediate and savage cuts to regional economic support – reducing funding by a third – go much further than the 25 per cent cuts announced by the Chancellor in the Budget. It shows the short-term and unfocused nature of the things to come – with cuts that will set back the economic recovery.

Of course, I agree that the budget deficit must be reduced. But there are choices for how to do this. RDAs represent excellent value-for-money – according to independent analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers. For every 1 spent on RDAs, 4.50 is gained by the economy as a whole.

To make cuts in areas of spending that have the most bang for their buck, and those that are focused on securing the nation's long-term economic future, is nothing short of madness.

In Yorkshire, we have a huge pride in our industrial past. From wool to coal and steel to retail and finance, our industries have powered the nation and enriched our region. As we plan for the recovery we need to build a future of which we can be equally proud.

The Victorian buildings which adorn our towns and cities are a testimony to the riches and the confidence of that era. Our purpose now must be as bold and as permanent – to put Yorkshire back in charge of its own economic destiny.

My hope for the long-term economic future of this country is based on a new economy that will build on our strengths in high-end manufacturing, creative industries and our great university and research traditions.

It will require investment in skills, apprenticeships, infrastructure, science and technology. It will be regionally and industrially diverse – with less emphasis on London and the South-East and more focus on jobs in regions across the UK.

It will require a responsible banking sector to provide finance and stability and a supportive government that works with business to realise this vision. In Yorkshire, we want the means to ensure growth in our region, and in doing so, to play our part in ensuring growth in the UK as a whole.

But instead, with unemployment still on the rise in Yorkshire, and earnings less than the UK average, our region will be

disproportionately affected by the harsh cuts announced in the Budget, compounded now by the news that we are losing Yorkshire Forward.

The coalition's own Office for Budget Responsibility has revealed that by 2016, more than 600,000 jobs will be lost in the public sector, on top of the jobs that have already been lost in the private sector

through the course of the recession.

While we all hope that new private sector jobs will take up the slack, this will not just happen by chance, it requires the right policies from Government.

As the Director General of the British Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday: "While business has been fully supportive of the Government's drive to reduce the UK's deficit, we believe that investment in the business environment must remain a key priority".

This is why it is so wrong that the Government has U-turned on its promise to keep RDAs in areas, like Yorkshire, where they are needed and valued the most.

Without Yorkshire Forward, our region wouldn't be what it is today. It is unlikely that we would have brought clean coal, and the 1,000 jobs it means, to our region.

Without Yorkshire Forward we would have been less likely to negotiate the deal with Siemens and GE to bring offshore wind – with thousands of much needed jobs – to Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe. And without Yorkshire Forward, the takeover by Lloyds Banking Group of HBOS may well have meant jobs in our region being relocated elsewhere. Increasingly, jobs can go anywhere in Britain, and to any country in the world.

Yorkshire Forward fought for our region like Whitehall never could, and its abolition will hit us hard.

We do need to reduce expenditure, but we also need a clear and coherent plan for growth. The paths to recovery will be local and regional if they are to be sustainable.

In Yorkshire, we want to play our part in the future economy, but we must be allowed the flexibility and freedom to take control of our own destiny, and this cannot be done without the institutional, strategic and financial support of a regional economic strategy – based in Yorkshire.

Rachel Reeves is Labour MP for Leeds West