Yorkshire Day is a celebration of all the amazing things that this great region has to offer. But it has long been acknowledged that this proud region has been deprived of the tools it needs to realise its true potential.

Levelling up as it currently stands is falling short and as a result it is failing the people of this region badly.

What was needed was a far more ambitious delivery of regional powers and funding that would transform the region’s prospects. The influential Public Accounts Committee has rightly criticised levelling up for being competitive and opaque.

Increasingly, levelling up is being used for electioneering rather than helping uplift left behind communities.

White Roses at the Rose Garden at Temple Newsam, Leeds. PIC: Simon Hulme

If the UK committed to investing just 0.4 per cent of its GDP in reducing regional inequalities, distributed by population alone, this would be worth £737m each year for Yorkshire, according to analysis by the think tank IPPR North. If this is distributed using a fair, needs-based method it would be worth £854m each year for the region. It is further evidence of how the region has been held back.

One of the reasons why The Yorkshire Post championed One Yorkshire devolution is because we understand the power that the region has as a collective. A streamlined representation of the county as a whole that could cut through the bureaucracy and red tape.

Tackling regional inequality is crucial to improving the future for the young people of Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Post is proud to publish Yorkshire’s Future with today’s newspaper. It captures the energy that young people in this region have. It is now up to those in Westminster to give the region the tools it needs to ensure that these young people’s potential isn’t squandered.

Yorkshire Day: The Government needs to get serious about tackling regional inequality - The Yorkshire Post says