Where do the tumultuous past few weeks leave those of us living in Yorkshire? - David Blunkett

In the last five weeks we've seen, at home and abroad, the most seismic change. Political and economic turmoil overlaid by the death of Queen Elizabeth II just two days after saying goodbye to one Prime Minister and inaugurating another at Balmoral.

We have seen the most dramatic change, not just in the administration of government, but a complete volte face in economic and fiscal policy – based on the teaching of Friedrich von Hayek, embraced by President Ronald Reagan and, to a degree, by Margaret Thatcher.

Not, it has to be emphasised, a new Government. This government have been in office for almost 12 and a half years. 12 and a half years where austerity and massive cuts in public investment were followed by the Brexit referendum, the demise of Theresa May’s premiership and the emergence of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

But two other events in September should not go without notice. The threat by Vladimir Putin to use battlefield nuclear weapons, to formally incorporate the Donbas and other currently occupied regions of Ukraine into Russia, and, in a parody of the 1920s and 30s, the emergence of a neofascist as the Prime Minister of Italy.

And, just like a hundred years ago, the world is recovering from a pandemic. In the aftermath of the First World War, the devastation that the flu outbreak brought had a direct knock-on effect in terms of the economic rollercoaster of the following years, and, of course, the clash of democracies and dictatorships; of far right and far left.

So, with the Party Conferences behind us and Parliament about to resume, and perhaps to deal with the aftermath of the Chancellor's budget statement on September 23, where does it leave those of us living in this great historic county of Yorkshire?

Well, not hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, which last week came down to a choice between Glasgow and Liverpool, eliminating Leeds and Sheffield.

Not, I fear, great benefit from the now discredited budget of two weeks ago.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies have pointed out that £43bn of the amount needed to cover the remaining tax cuts, will be added to the borrowing for the promised measures to reduce energy costs.

I'm still struck by the imagery which emerged from that tax cutting budget, of a car where the driver has their right foot on the accelerator, whilst their left foot (let's call it the Bank of England) is struggling to find the brake pedal, in the form of eye watering future interest rate rises.

That includes gas and oil but also the raw materials that go into production and delivering services here at home.

More immediately, the action of mortgage lenders in raising rates and withdrawing existing offers, incurring costs for both sellers and potential buyers and all the heartache that goes with it.

The kind of catastrophic miscalculation by the Government in terms of how the markets would react, which, had it been a Labour government, would have invoked almost universal outrage.

But, here in Britain in October 2022, nothing should surprise us anymore.

In this column four weeks ago, I echoed the warning of the former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in describing Liz Truss as having a “tenuous" grasp of economics. Looking back, that judgement seems now to be extremely generous and would appear to apply to her Chancellor too.

Following a catastrophic misturn, we have now had a classic U-turn.

For here is a simple truth. If the ideologically driven measures put in place by the current regime are successful, it will be for only part of the country.

If that happens, and growth does accelerate in London and the South East, it will inevitably create a pull factor both for filling jobs, and in terms of the requirement for infrastructure investment.

That will be catastrophic for Yorkshire. Another blow in exactly the opposite direction of levelling up.

What’s more, even greater predicated cuts in public services will hit the least well off the most, whilst hurting the wealthy the least.

Predictions for the next statement from the Chancellor now brought forward from November 23 warn of a £36bn cut in Public Spending and yet another round of austerity taking us back over 12 years to the last set of similar measures introduced by this Conservative Government which failed the first time round and will again.

That is why the voice of business, of further and higher education, of those running key public services - including local government – should unite in putting forward a bottom-up programme of key demands for investment in the region.

After all, the substantial sums which would have gone into the eastern leg of HS2 are now earmarked elsewhere. The promised improvements in connectivity and key drivers of growth, just a memory.

Now surely must be the time for all to work together across Yorkshire, to put together our own recovery plan, to combine existing local resources, and to leverage the investment from wherever funding can be obtained.

Above all, to give a coherent voice to the 5.3 million people who live in our region, and who frankly deserve better.

David Blunkett is a Labour Party politician, and served as the MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.