The Yorkshire Post says: Will an Education for the North body really solve north/south learning divide?

While the jury is still out on precisely how effective the Transport for the North partnership between local councils and business leaders will be on persuading the Government to invest substantially more in the region's infrastructure, the chairman of the organisation has put forward an intriguing proposal that has the potential to bear fruit in a different field.

John Cridland has suggested a new Education for the North body could be established to help drive up standards at secondary schools as part of attempts to tackle a North-South divide on pupils’ attainment.

The idea has a promising precedent in the London Challenge initiative which was set up in the early 2000s to improve the capital’s state education. It was such a success that similar projects were established in the Black Country and Manchester.

That scheme could act as a template to drive up standards in the North, while the introduction of a new regional body could also push for fuller implementation of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy, which called for more money to attract teachers to work in disadvantaged areas of the region.

The latter strategy was produced by Sir Nick Weller, the chief executive of Bradford-based Dixons Academies Trust, at the behest of David Cameron’s then government but Sir Nick admitted this summer his policy platform has struggled to gain political support under Theresa May.

Mr Cridland’s suggestion may now reignite the debate on how to level the playing field for children across the North with their southern peers.