Speak up or pay price of Brexit

Yorkshire needs coherent voice

THE IMPORTANCE of Yorkshire speaking with a more coherent voice is made even more urgent by today’s revelation that the Government has no definitive plans to replace the funding that this county receives each year from the European Union. Even though Brexit Secretary David Davis is the longstanding Haltemprice and Howden MP, and his constituency neighbour Andrew Percy is the Northern Powerhouse Minister, there’s a growing sense that this region is becoming overlooked.

It’s certainly true that Yorkshire is not helping itself when it comes to the impasse over devolution – the Government has already intimated that elected mayors will speak for regional leaders when Mr Davis holds a summit in York to ascertain their views. It’s also paradoxical that this region voted by a considerable margin to leave the EU when its most deprived areas are the beneficiaries of a myriad of regeneration programmes. Coupled with the public’s indifference towards forces of globalisation, this is further proof that the Remain case was poorly articulated ahead of last June’s referendum.

And while the Government will contend that nothing can be decided ahead of the triggering of Article 50, and the conclusion of negotiations with the EU, Treasury chief secretary David Gauke’s apparent reticence towards at the North is at odds with the various undertakings given by Boris Johnson, now Foreign Secretary, on the campaign trail.

Though Brexit supporters maintain that Britain’s liberation from the EU will stop the situation where the UK receives less funding than it pays into the Brussels pot, Yorkshire will struggle to become an economic powerhouse without the £100m a year that it receives under present arrangements.

To his credit, Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis has spotted the ambiguity and expressed his dismay. If Yorkshire is not to be left on the margins, others – whether they be business leaders or politicians from across the spectrum – need to start doing likewise.