Ministers ‘lack vision for the North’, claims ex-Chancellor

Osborne lays out policy suggestions

FORMER CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer George Osborne today launches a scathing attack on Downing Street, accusing the Government of showing a “lack of vision” on how best to empower the North.

Mr Osborne claimed that the Government had failed to come up with a “single idea” as to how to advance the Northern Powerhouse movement he founded and spelt out a series of policy initiatives which he said could help narrow the North-South divide.

Speaking ahead of a major conference in Leeds today, Mr Osborne – who first developed the Northern Powerhouse concept – said that Ministers have failed to capitalise on significant levels of business backing on areas such as education and transport.

Mr Osborne, who now chairs the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), laid out a series of policy measures which he said could help breath new life into the Northern Powerhouse project, including raising education standards for under-performing schools, completing devolution across all areas of the North and a firm, unequivocal commitment on high speed rail links across the region.

His comments come after new research showed that two-thirds of secondary schools teaching the most disadvantaged pupils in the country who make the slowest educational progress are in the North, with white working-class

boys the most at risk of falling behind.

As a remedy, the NPP and Mr Osborne propose a ‘Northern Schools Challenge’ which would reform the pupil premium initiative by spending an extra £1bn a year on achievement levels for the most disadvantaged children. They also recommend establishing a Northern Schools Board which would have the power to take over failing academy chains.

In the Next Steps for the Northern Powerhouse document, there are also calls for:

■ A firm financial commitment to the big infrastructure, especially high-speed rail across the North from Liverpool to Hull by 2033;

■ Complete devolution with mayors covering all major urban areas of the North;

■ Allowing the North to pilot road user charging to raise £8bn to pay for much-needed local transport improvements;

■ A £250m housing fund to build new garden and urban villages around key areas, such as Manchester Airport and Bradford;

■ The roll-out of fibre to the premises of every business and home in the top 30 northern towns and cities by 2025.

Speaking ahead of today’s Great Northern Conference, Mr Osborne said: “Five years on from the Northern Powerhouse being launched, our idea continues to get stronger and stronger.

“We have devolved mayors, new science centres and better infrastructure. Above all, Northern communities and businesses understand that by working together the whole of the North can be stronger.

“But the Northern Powerhouse is suffering from a lack of vision from the Government. Indeed, it’s hard to think of a single original idea that has come out of this Downing Street to advance the Northern Powerhouse.”

Our idea continues to get stronger and stronger.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

From: MP Laycock, Wheatlands Road East, Harrogate.

WHEN Kenneth Clarke says that Theresa May is “running the risk of losing moderates from her party”, the former Chancellor is confusing support for EU membership with political moderation. It is quite obvious that differences run right across traditional political divisions.

It is also quite wrong to suggest that Mrs May has been captured by “right-wing Brexit hardliners”. Far from it. She has seriously let them down by negotiating away many of the advantages of leaving. By failing to make proper contingency plans for leaving without a deal, she has significantly damaged our hopes of getting a good settlement with an organisation whose clear aim is to make us suffer for our decision.

From: John Riseley, Harcourt Drive, Harrogate.

I NOTE with interest that other correspondents are looking to proportional representation as a means of expressing and reflecting the wishes of the people (Natalie Bennett, The Yorkshire Post, February 22).

The present system cannot cope effectively with more than two parties and delivers a binary choice, much the same as a referendum between two package deals. Worse than this, for an early general election (as advocated by some) the mix of views on Brexit within each of the main parties would leave us in doubt as to how votes for a particular candidate would influence the outcome.

I would, however, caution against supporting a gerrymandered PR designed system to assist a Lib Dem-sized party while excluding smaller ones.We have issues of left-right and in-out as well as high-low immigration. That alone gives eight combinations.

But when it comes to negotiations to form a coalition (as is almost inevitable with PR) a party’s order of priority for these issues matters: they are not going to get everything they want.

This takes us up to 48 permutations.

From: Tim Hunter, Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough.

I SAY good riddance to the likes of Anna Soubry etc who have left the Conservative Party. They were clearly never really Conservatives – they were just closet Liberals.

I think both parties are actually returning to normal following the distortions inflicted by Tony Blair and David Cameron.

Now, once more, you know where you stand: you’re either Labour or Conservative.