This week’s Cabinet reshuffle might have surprised a few, especially with the return of former Prime Minister David Cameron to frontline politics. But there is a general feeling that the Conservatives are simply not delivering.

Even Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claim to have delivered on his pledge to halve inflation is spurious.

The reshuffle was followed with the appointment of a new Tory party chairman in the form of Richard Holden. While he attempts to paint a positive picture of the Tories, people in the North will be sceptical after repeated failings over the past 13 years.

Richard Holden, chairman of the Conservative Party, arrives in Downing Street, London, for the first meeting of the new-look Cabinet following a reshuffle on Monday. PIC: James Manning/PA Wire

In fact even the new chairman concedes that the trust it won at the 2019 General Election has been eroded.

“When it comes down to it, we need to rebuild after what has been a tough time for the Conservative Party,” Mr Holden says. “We need to rebuild that trust with people, that has to happen on a local and a national level.”

As a ‘red wall’ Tory MP, he will know the dangers of inaction. If the Tory party is to recover ground then the region needs more than rhetoric. The Government will be judged on its actions.

Otherwise people in the North will only assume that the Conservatives are only going to offer more of the same, which really won’t do for the region.

There’s a real sense that whatever the Government says, people here simply no longer believe it. Quite a contrast to where the Conservatives found themselves after the 2019 General Election. The Autumn Statement presents what could be a final throw of the dice for the Government.

The hourglass is running low and so is trust in the Tories across the North - The Yorkshire Post says