Us Yorkshire’s MPs need to speak with a united voice and show that our region is serious about the green transition - Katie White
When Ed Miliband stood up in the House of Commons last week to give this Government’s first annual climate and nature statement, he said something that really stuck with me: this is a moment for radical truth-telling.
And the truth is, Yorkshire is already living with the impact of our changing climate. Flooding isn’t a once-in-a-decade event anymore, it’s happening again and again. In the last year, we had flood alerts in December and then a hosepipe ban by May, after the driest spring in over 130 years. That’s not just bad luck. That’s climate change, right here on our doorstep.
But there’s another truth too and it’s one we don’t talk about enough: we’ve already got so many of the answers.
In Huddersfield, wind turbines are turning. In Settle and Wakefield, old mills have been brought back to life as mini hydro stations. Schools and hospitals in Leeds and Otley are cutting both bills and carbon with solar panels. In Bradford, families are moving into warm, low-energy homes built on land that was once left empty. The Yorkshire Green grid upgrade is underway, making sure clean, local energy can power homes around the country.
It's not just good for the planet, it means cheaper bills and decent jobs we can build a life around.
This Labour Government is now making the biggest investment in clean energy in a generation, alongside record funding to restore nature. That’s a real opportunity to turn big promises into meaningful action, but only if Yorkshire is at the front of the queue.
Yorkshire is already home to more than 2,000 net zero businesses. In 2024 alone, our region attracted £700m in private investment. Major players like Siemens Gamesa are already here, helping to deliver over two gigawatts of offshore wind capacity - the equivalent of 200 million LED lightbulbs. The foundations are in place, now we need to build on them.
But what we need now is political leadership, not just from this Government, but from us. From Yorkshire’s MPs, speaking with one voice and showing business and industry that our region is serious about leading this transition.
We have 54 MPs across Yorkshire: Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Independent. We don’t need to agree on everything. But if we could agree on this: on protecting our environment, investing in our region and backing our industries, we could be the strongest voice in the country for green jobs and clean growth.
Imagine all 54 Yorkshire MPs standing together, not just demanding, but going out to business and the private sector and saying: Yorkshire is ready. We have the skills, the infrastructure, the track record. This is where you want to invest.
That kind of unity would be impossible to ignore: in Westminster, in boardrooms, and in every corner of the country.
And this is not a left or right issue. I’ve met voters from all parties who care deeply about protecting our oceans from destructive fishing. Farmers who’ve voted for different parties their whole lives but are desperate for action on drought, flooding and nature loss. People who don’t agree with me on anything else, but who love our Dales, rivers, and coast, and want to protect them for the next generation.
Katie White is the Labour MP for Leeds North West.