Sayeeda Warsi: We promise to heal the great divides in this country

Four months on, and a lot has changed for me and for Britain. But that promise is still right at the heart of my plans. This week I kick-start my first big national tour as Conservative Party chairman with visits to Newcastle and Leeds. It's a good opportunity to thank the army of activists who helped us win 10 new seats in Yorkshire and Humber at the election. But even more important, it's a chance to show them how the coalition Government is delivering the change they campaigned for.

For years, Labour talked about tough decisions but never took them. In just a few months, this coalition has showed that it is intent on becoming one of the great reforming governments. Just look at the economic choices we've made. We've completed an in-year spending review to deliver 6bn of savings. We've presented an emergency Budget that will balance the books within five years. And we've scrapped Labour's jobs tax.

There's something else we've been doing: making sure that future growth and prosperity are not just concentrated in one part of the country. For all their regional assemblies, regional strategies and regional development agencies, Labour failed to ensure that all parts of the country shared equally in economic prosperity. Their top-down politics drained the region of real people power.

One fact sums up the whole sorry story of Labour's legacy here: between 1998 and 2008 for every private sector job created in the North or the Midlands, 10 were created in London and the South-East. In places like Barnsley, the number of private sector jobs actually fell. The result? Our economy became dangerously dependent on just a few sectors and just one city: London.

In our society, a similar thing was happening. More and more power was being sucked away from local people and given to distant bureaucrats in Westminster, Whitehall, and the big bureaucracies. Right across the North, there was a sense that politicians in Westminster weren't even remotely in touch with what happens here. It all added to the sense of division in our country.

We must never again let this kind of imbalance occur. We want to

breathe life into every nook, cranny, corner, chink, cleft and crevice of Britain to make sure that everyone can make the most of their abilities. We want the country to feel like a buzzing, vibrant, integrated community, where everyone has the power to take control of their lives.

So how will we bring this about? Part of it is about having the right economic policies. Government has to get out of the way where it's holding business back, but it has to get involved where it's most needed – and that means giving the right support to the regions.

So as well as our plans for cutting corporation tax and radically reducing red tape, we have a series of policies which will apply specifically to places such as Yorkshire. Our regional growth fund will give local businesses and communities the chance to apply for money for projects that will stimulate local innovation, private sector jobs, and growth. And our new three-year scheme to exempt new businesses from National Insurance contributions could help up to 50,000 businesses locally.

But it's not just new economic powers Yorkshire needs. People also need to feel that politicians really are switched on to what's happening in the area. And they want to have real control over how their local communities and neighbourhoods are run.

As a Government, we've already sent a clear message by holding our first Cabinet meeting outside Downing Street in Bradford. What's more, David Cameron gave his first major speech as Prime Minister in Shipley. But it's not just about what we do as a Government – it's about what people here can do if they are given the power and the chance.

And that's why we have affirmed our plans to give our biggest cities the opportunity to elect executive mayors. That's why we're going to keep giving local councils more power, with a general power of competence so that they can set up banks, develop property, run new services and own assets. And that's why we are also giving them the power to get together with local businesses to form their own local enterprise partnerships to chart their economic future.

These are the kind of real, concrete, lasting changes we're bringing, and I am convinced that they're the kind of radical changes Yorkshire desperately needs.

We must heal the great divides in this country – and where better to start than the gap between the North and the South?

Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury is the Conservative Party chairman.