To truly unlock Yorkshire’s potential, we need region-wide autonomy - Tom Gordon
Yorkshire’s economy rivals Wales, its population matches Scotland’s and its regional identity runs deep. Yet for decades, it has been held back by an over-centralised political system that treats the region as an afterthought, wasting potential, neglecting communities and allowing inequalities to deepen.
While Yorkshire now has four elected mayors, their limited powers and budgets fall far short of the scale of our challenges. Worse, power has been devolved in ways that divide rather than unite us. Breaking Yorkshire into separate areas has weakened our collective voice, forcing local leaders to compete for limited resources instead of collaborating. This patchwork approach has done nothing to lift Yorkshire from its status as one of Western Europe’s poorest regions.
To truly unlock Yorkshire’s potential, we need region-wide autonomy, a permanent transfer of powers to leaders who understand our communities. Control over transport, health, education, and more would enable coordinated solutions that benefit the whole region, not isolated pockets.
Few issues make the case for regional autonomy more clearly than transport. Yorkshire’s network is outdated, underfunded and unfit for a modern economy. West Yorkshire remains the largest urban area in Europe without light rail or mass transit. Across the region, trains are slow and unreliable and in many rural areas, public transport is almost non-existent.
Meanwhile, Westminster continues funnelling billions into the South, while Northern projects are delayed, scaled back, or scrapped entirely – HS2 being just the latest example. Such neglect stalls growth and reinforces inequality.
What Yorkshire needs is a single, integrated transport system that reflects how people actually live and travel, unrestricted by arbitrary boundaries. A region-wide network would improve access to jobs, support local economies and help close the opportunity gap that has held us back for far too long.
Alongside transport, real control over education and skills is equally vital. Local leaders are best placed to design training that meets the specific needs of our industries and communities, rather than relying on one-size-fits-all national policies.
This matters all the more given the lasting impact of industrial decline. The collapse of manufacturing left deep scars across Yorkshire, hollowing out once-thriving towns with little effort to replace lost jobs. With genuine powers over skills and economic development, Yorkshire could align training with local demand, build a future-ready workforce and rebuild its economy on its own terms, not Westminster’s.
Healthcare demands the same approach. Like transport and investment, health funding has long favoured other regions and Yorkshire is paying the price. People here live shorter lives and spend more years in poor health than the national average. Yet, national health policies remain too centralised and broad to tackle these local challenges effectively.
We already have a Yorkshire-wide Ambulance Service, proof that regional planning can work. Building on that by devolving health and social care would enable local leaders to design services that truly meet community needs.
What’s increasingly clear is this: as long as power remains concentrated in Westminster, Yorkshire will continue to be held back.
Yorkshire deserves better. That’s why, I’ve tabled an amendment to the English Devolution Bill to secure real powers over transport, health, education, and more.
Tom Gordon is the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.