Coming together

A glaring example of this came last month when the reality behind the infrastructure plan at the heart of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was revealed. In defiance of George Osborne’s much-vaunted aim of rebalancing the economy, the inconvenient truth is that 84 per cent of the planned spending will be done in London and the South-East and only six per cent in the North.

There has seldom been a better time, then, for the launch of a new parliamentary voice for Yorkshire and it is a credit to those MPs who have put aside their political differences – led by Labour’s Barry Sheerman and Andrew Percy for the Tories - in recognition of the fact that this region is getting a poor deal at Westminster.

It can only be a help to the Yorkshire and Humber area’s case for investment to have its interests and needs debated regularly by an all-party group. It is important, however, that the group does not become a mere talking-shop, a band of concerned MPs speaking only to each other.

Instead, it must emphasise that the present imbalance is not only unfair, it is also economically unsound, with Yorkshire’s huge population and rich industrial tradition having enormous potential for helping to lead Britain back to sustainable growth. In other words, if this group is to bang the drum, it has to ensure that it is heard.