Why Yorkshire needs to vote for a fresh start

Four weeks of frenetic campaigning have also left an unprecedented

number of undecided voters heading to the polling stations today to deliver their judgment, with many reluctant to forgive politicians per se for the MPs' expenses scandal.

What can be said with clarity is that the national outcome will be determined by the results in a swathe of marginal Yorkshire seats – which was borne out by Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg campaigning here yesterday in a rare show of unanimity.

No other region was afforded such attention. For, despite the electoral system's flaws, the leaders know that every vote will matter here as people decide whether to entrust Labour with the economic recovery – or decide that Britain will be better served by change.

Some perspective is required. The Yorkshire of today is, in most regards, unrecognisable compared to the political and economic landscape in 1997 that heralded New Labour's election.

Towns and cities have been transformed – and key public services, like the NHS and schools, have benefited from record investment, though this money could have been spent more wisely.

Any assessment of Labour's legacy would be remiss to overlook these achievements – even though parts of this region have become even more dependent upon the public sector in terms of jobs, welfare benefits or a combination of both.

Likewise, this Government's handling of the banking crisis probably prevented the recession from becoming a re-run of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Yet the price that Britain will have to pay – a record and

unsustainable budget deficit – is the reason the Conservatives are the party best equipped to represent Yorkshire's future interests. Unlike their opponents, they recognise the need to take difficult decisions promptly to avoid Britain, supposedly one of the world's great economies, seeing its credit rating diminished – or requiring a humiliating financial bailout from the IMF.

Delaying these decisions is unfeasible and unrealistic. Furthermore, there is no reason efficiency savings cannot be introduced in a way that does not jeopardise the recovery, and the Tories' proposed public sector pay freeze is a necessary first step.

Mr Cameron's over-riding priority will be to strike this balance in a way that does not cast adrift those sections of society whose interests were overlooked for too long by his various predecessors, and also the last Conservative administration.

He now accepts that the Tories made serious mistakes in the past, particularly on social policy, and that his core economic instincts – lower taxes where appropriate, and less red tape – accord with the views of business leaders trying to keep Yorkshire on the road to recovery.

He also knows that each region has its own set of challenges and an early test of Mr Cameron will be his government's decision on the future of Yorkshire Forward, the catalyst of so much growth locally, and which needs to be retained.

He must be aware that the eyes of the region will be scrutinising every move to ensure that he carries through his electoral promises, such as throwing his government's full weight behind Yorkshire's green revolution, and accepting that Leeds and Sheffield must be at the heart of any high-speed rail network – key planks of this newspaper's election manifesto.

If the Tory leader comes to power, it will not just be the economy, and Britain's discredited democracy, that will require reform. There is

also the fallout from the Afghanistan war, a forgotten issue in the election; the need to make public services more efficient and other issues, like pensions, welfare reform, housing and immigration, that have been neglected for too long.

Even while fighting for his political life, the Prime Minister failed to recognise that this country has spent beyond its means. Instead, it was left to the redoubtable Gillian Duffy to point out that the Labour leader is out of touch with reality, a point also made effectively by Mr Clegg in the TV debates when he tapped into the public's dismay with the ruling political elite.

Indeed, it is this disenchantment which has added such uncertainty to this election. With Mr Clegg exceeding expectations, a hung Parliament is a likely proposition.

If this does happen, it will be incumbent upon the main parties to act responsibly. Mr Brown will have to step aside if Labour loses its majority; this unelected leader will have no moral mandate to continue. And, while Mr Cameron might be tempted to form a minority government with Unionists from Northern Ireland, these parties, and also the nationalists in Scotland and Wales, should not be allowed to exploit electoral deadlock for their own advantage, and at the expense of the English regions.

Under such circumstances, Mr Cameron might have to consider an alliance with Liberal Democrats – but it is unlikely that such a pact could provide the decisive leadership the country requires in these uniquely challenging times.

That is why this newspaper is advocating change and endorsing David Cameron's forward-looking agenda which has the potential to overcome crippling economic challenges, and engineer a more prosperous future for Yorkshire businesses and families.