A lot for Yorkshire to welcome in Andy Burnham’s pledge on devolution - Yorkshire Post Letters

Dear Andy,

Your speech at the People's History Museum was one of the most significant statements on the future of British governance we have heard in years, and the Alliance for Yorkshire welcomes it wholeheartedly.

Your central argument - that growth cannot be directed from the top down but must be built from the bottom up - is one we have been making for many years. It is encouraging to hear that case made from a platform of national leadership and made with such clarity and conviction.

We share your diagnosis. Westminster's over-centralisation of power, resources and decision-making has weakened England's regions and left communities across the country without the authority to shape their own futures. The consequences - in living standards, infrastructure and economic opportunity - have become increasingly apparent over many decades.

England's regions are not simply administrative areas; they are historic economic and cultural communities with distinct strengths, identities and ambitions. If Britain is serious about renewing itself, those regions must be trusted with meaningful democratic institutions, real fiscal powers and the ability to take long-term decisions in the interests of their own people. A stronger Britain will be built by stronger regions, not by ever greater central control.

For Yorkshire, that means a Yorkshire Parliament: a body with genuine legislative competence and meaningful fiscal powers, modelled on the Scottish devolution settlement, accountable to the people of Yorkshire and capable of making the long-term strategic decisions that a region of five and a half million people should be making for itself. We believe Yorkshire is one example of a much broader constitutional settlement that England now needs.

Yorkshire is not asking for favours. Nor do we believe Yorkshire should be unique. Every English region should have the opportunity to secure the democratic institutions and powers that best reflect its own history, identity and aspirations.

We believe that would strengthen the United Kingdom by allowing decisions to be taken closer to the people they affect, while enabling national government to focus on genuinely national priorities.

We would welcome the opportunity for a direct dialogue on how Yorkshire's proposals might contribute to the wider constitutional conversation you have begun. The ambition you set out is the right one. We hope it marks the beginning of a wider constitutional settlement that finally gives England's regions the powers and democratic institutions they have long needed.