Channel 4 relocation shortlist ‘must include a Yorkshire city’
IT WOULD be “outrageous” if no Yorkshire cities were included on the shortlist for the relocation of Channel 4 and the 300 jobs it will bring, Ministers have been told.
Yorkshire MPs took to the House of Commons en masse to make the case for bidding cities Leeds and Sheffield ahead of the close of submissions today.
Labour MP for Leeds North West Alex Sobel told a Westminster Hall debate: “We have the infrastructure, we have Sky, we have Perform, we have Yorkshire TV, we have Rockstar Leeds, the makers of Grand Theft Auto which sold over 250 million copies in the world, we have Pace Arris in Saltaire, which powers internet and TV for hundreds of millions globally – we have the people, we have the infrastructure.”
Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis made the case in his first Commons appearance since becoming Sheffield City Region mayor: “If Channel 4 were a city, it would be Sheffield. Sheffield is creative, dynamic, authentic, and welcoming.”
Meanwhile, Keighley MP John Grogan said at least one of the cities must be on the list.
“It would be outrageous, I use that word advisedly, if there was no representative of God’s Own County on the shortlist,” he said. “I think it’s inconceivable.”
MPs from Kirklees, including former actor Tracy Brabin, joined forces to highlight the potential for the area to host one of Channel 4’s two smaller creative hubs to accompany the new headquarters outside London.
Signing a letter to Channel 4 alongside Colne Valley MP Thelma Walker, Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff and Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman, Batley and Spen’s Ms Brabin said “the towns and villages have just as much to offer and arguably more to gain”.