YP Comment: Is Northern Powerhouse running out of steam?

IN defence of the Government, the lack of progress on devolution is not the direct fault of Ministers '“ they cannot help it that Yorkshire remains the only region in the country which is unable to reach a consensus on its future governance so this region can take charge of its own destiny when it comes to the economy, skills training and transport.

Yet the Government is doing itself few favours when it comes to retaining the support of voters, and business leaders, when it comes to the Northern Powerhouse, Chancellor George Osborne’s strategy to empower Yorkshire and neighbouring regions so the wider UK economy becomes slightly less London-centric in the future.

It’s been slow to act over the collapse of the steel industry and the wider challenges facing manufacturing; it’s been complacent in the extreme over the Yorkshire floods and the decision to close the Sheffield regional office of the Department of Business, Industry and Skills was compounded by a truly shameful statement to Parliament by Anna Soubry, the Small Business Minister, that does not deserve to be forgiven or forgotten.

As such, Jamie Martin – managing partner of top law firm Ward Hadaway – speaks for many when he asserts that “there is a sense that some of the steam has gone out of the Northern Powerhouse” and that half of recipients to a recent survey don’t expect the Chancellor’s vision to come to fruition in their lifetimes.

This comment has even more resonance because Mr Martin is not one of the Labour politicians who Ms Soubry taunted in the Commons. He is a respected businessman who wants the Northern Powerhouse to work because his company, and others like it, will benefit. Yet, if he is having doubts, the Government need to take such concerns seriously rather than dismissing them totally  out of hand.