Published 10th Jun 2023, 06:00 BST

Updated 10th Jun 2023, 07:53 BST

In an Interview with The Yorkshire Post, the former chancellor and architect to the Cameron-era devolution deals said that the success of his legacy in the North, such as high speed rail across the Pennines is more important than party politics.

Speaking at the Northern Research Group conference in Doncaster yesterday, he backed current Tory MPs’ calls for East-West transport, dubbed “the Charles Line”, which he said has the capacity to be as transformative as major motorways such as the M25 which the Treasury was also unwilling to build.

He called on his party to back infrastructure spending in the North, following projections that the Tories could lose almost all of their 25 seats in the region and would be the party’s biggest defeat in the region since it lost 15 seats in 1997 under John Major.

George Osborne, President of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, during the Northern Research Group conference at Doncaster Racecourse. Picture date: Friday June 9, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Tories. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

It comes as Nadine Dorries, triggered a by-election in her Mid Bedfordshire after resigning with immediate effect amid reports that she had been kept off Boris Johnson’s honours list by Downing Street.

The research commissioned by Best for Britain, shows that 12 per cent of the region’s voters, some half a million people, still do not know who they will vote for at the next general election, with a further 10 per cent telling pollsters that they would not vote.

According to The Yorkshire Post analysis, as many as 11 further seats could be held if the Conservatives are able to galvanise most of the undecided and unwilling voters to back them in next year’s general election, taking the party to around the numbers won in 2017 under Theresa May.

Seats that look set to remain blue, even if Sir Keir Starmer’s party keeps a 12 point lead, include the Prime Minister’s seat of Richmond and Northallerton, and the newly-created Wetherby and Easingwold.

Meanwhile, Labour looks set to take control of marginal seats in the region, as well as new constituencies affected by the boundary changes such as Selby, which currently has a majority of over 20,000.

Rachel Reeves, Labour’s would-be chancellor, will run for the Tory-held seat of Pudsey, after her current constituency disappears in the boundary review.

Both Labour and Tory MPs suggested that the move could be “risky”, as if Labour has a bad night in Yorkshire in 2024, Labour could lose the key architect of its new-found competence on the economy and business.

Tory MPs told The Yorkshire Post that they expect the polls to significantly close between now and the election expected in the next 15 months.

I would rather the North succeeds than the Tories win next year, George Osborne says