Now is the time to empower us with devolution deal - The Yorkshire Post says

A new Prime Minister presents the opportunity to consign the dismal litany of Government failings over devolution for Yorkshire to the past and press on with securing a deal that our region has long sought and deserves.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a speech on domestic priorities at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 27, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Tories. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA WirePrime Minister Boris Johnson giving a speech on domestic priorities at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 27, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Tories. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire
Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a speech on domestic priorities at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 27, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Tories. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

For far too long, Yorkshire has been compelled to go cap-in-hand to Westminster in order to effectively beg for progressive change. Bureaucrats with limited knowledge of our region’s diverse needs have either failed to listen or refused to countenance eminently sensible and workable proposals.

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The time for such attitudes is past. It cannot be stated too often that the people who know what is best for Yorkshire are those who live and work here. They are immersed in the economic realities, the social issues, and have the wellbeing, prosperity and ambitions of this region’s families at the forefront of their minds.

It is now incumbent upon the Government led by Boris Johnson to put its faith in those people to decide their own future and agree to the One Yorkshire devolution proposals set out today.

That they come in the week of Yorkshire Day should serve to concentrate minds in London. Our county might take some heart from Mr Johnson’s speech in Manchester at the weekend, when he was more enthusiastic about devolution than his most recent predecessors.

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The One Yorkshire proposals are both coherent and compelling, setting out a strategy for a full devolution deal by 2022 that would deliver immense economic and social benefits.

Mr Johnson should agree to take this path without hesitation, not least because the £30bn economic boost it would produce is of benefit not just to Yorkshire, but to the entire country.

Our county stands ready to forge ahead into a bright new future with determination, energy and vision. We must not be held back any longer.