The Tories are in a crisis of their own making as prominent Yorkshire donor ditches party - The Yorkshire Post says

In fact, the party has lost its way to such an extent that leading Yorkshire industrialist and long-standing donor Sir Andrew Cook even says he has “washed his hands” of the party.

The current Government is an empty shell and out of ideas. It looks more and more resigned to defeat.

Sir Andrew, who funded the Remain-backing ‘Conservatives IN’ campaign, has hit out against the negative impact of Brexit on Yorkshire steel businesses. Whatever people’s stance on Brexit, no one voted to become poorer, to face huge queues at A&E or for business to become more difficult. While the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine have played a part in the economy taking a downward slide, the Tories cannot escape blame.

In the week that Liz Truss had the audacity to claim that her policies were right, policies that caused chaos in the markets and led to the Bank of England intervening, and ultimately saw her last just 49 days as Prime Minister, it is a striking reminder of where the party finds itself.

All the while places like Yorkshire continue to suffer the consequences of a decade plus of austerity and broken promises.

The noises are that the Government has all but given up on major infrastructure projects that would deliver much needed economic growth and greater prosperity to regions like ours. There are question marks over HS2 and HS3 and it’s reported that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has been banned from making spending decisions on new capital projects. Levelling Up is fast becoming nothing but a glorified slogan but the region’s people and businesses won’t be fooled come the next General Election.