Time to stop the short-changing of Yorkshire, Mr Johnson: The Yorkshire Post says

THERE can be absolutely no doubt that Yorkshire is being held back by an intolerable level of economic inequality compared to London and the south east. The extent of this gross injustice is forcefully illustrated by today’s report from IPPR North, which finds that centralisation has resulted in the worst inequalities to be found anywhere in the developed world.
Boris Johnson is facing new calls to tackle regional inequality (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Boris Johnson is facing new calls to tackle regional inequality (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Boris Johnson is facing new calls to tackle regional inequality (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Even though the south-east is home to a third of England’s population, it is where almost half the jobs created over the last decade are based. Coming as it does on top of Lord Kerslake’s UK2070 Commission report last year which found the deprivation of some regions comparable to that of East Germany before reunification, this paints a disgraceful picture of Government neglect.

Allowing the regions to fall so far behind the capital and its commuter belt is a matter of national shame, and the most damning indictment possible of a culture of Government centralisation which has placed excessive power and funding in the hands of too few people.

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Boris Johnson has made much of his intention to level up economic inequalities afflicting the regions, and what the IPPR North report makes clear is that this will involve going much farther than investing in specific flagship projects like HS2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail.

There needs to be a wholescale rebalancing of the way Yorkshire is governed and funded, not from the centre, but from within its own boundaries. And that means devolution for the whole county, the One Yorkshire deal backed by the business and civic communities, rather than city region agreements that could set rival areas against each other instead of working together.

The inequality must end without further delay if Mr Johnson is to command the confidence of this region. Yorkshire cannot be short-changed or held back any longer.