Timothy Kirkhope: Time to speak with one voice over the region’s future

First, the demise of Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, was always going to mean that there would be, at least in the short term, a vacuum in respect of cohesiveness.

However, we should not forget that even with Yorkshire Forward, there were competing factions – like the local authorities in South Yorkshire with different agendas to those further north in the country, and rural demands against urban needs.

The RDAs would have to have changed structurally in any event.

On balance, I would have liked Yorkshire Forward to have continued as a form of arbitrator but with much more control from entrepreneurs and less from local authority chiefs (as we achieved with development corporations in the 1990s).

While I support the new Local Enterprise Partnerships and those who have volunteered to lead them, and the creation of new enterprise zones, there is, as yet, no clear evidence of financial support for them.

There is also little evidence of how they will be co-ordinated or work together for the region as a whole.

The Regional Government office is presumably awaiting its further instructions. Hopefully, a Minister, not for one or two cities, but for the whole region, will emerge sooner rather than later.

In view of the fact that we have already in place a number of organisations which are regional in nature and purpose (as befits Yorkshire and the Humber) such as tourism, industry, banks and transport, I would be surprised if the Government was reluctant to encourage Yorkshire to maintain itself and to compete efficiently against other parts of the UK – like the devolved nations.

I served (with other MEPs) on the Yorkshire Forward European Strategy Board in recognition of the fact that we were (and still are) the only regionally-elected representatives.

It was useful and allowed us to be aware of the whole picture of the region so we could reflect the needs to the “powers that be” in Brussels.

That work continues, but we now have to hunt around to put all the bits together and the result is less clear direction for us in our work on all aspects of policy on economic growth and so forth.

Given all of that, my main suggestion is that we hopefully get a Minister for the region.

Once that happens, this individual – and their civil servants – should chair a new Regional Strategic Board made up of LEP chairmen, the chief executives of authorities with enterprise zones, an elected group (of no more than about six) of council leaders, representatives of business and commerce from the five or six areas of the region, leaders of current regional “delivery bodies” (like tourism) as well as representative of the county’s MPs and MEPs.

That board could co-ordinate some of the current regional activity, including from those bodies which still have quasi-government roles.

I know it sounds like yet another body – even to some a new “talking shop” – but surely talking about the future of our region means that those most concerned about its future will actually be meeting?

That outcome is far from certain as things stand under present proposals.

We all want Yorkshire and the Humber to be successful and to lead the way in economic recovery. The tricky bit is putting in place something that will produce the best outcomes.

Timothy Kirkhope, an MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, is Leader of the Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament.