A breakdown of trust over Covid; North won’t forget London Government – The Yorkshire Post says

Once again countless families are living in fear of both the virus – and also the potential impact of another lockdown will have on sectors like Yorkshire’s world-renowned hospitality industry.

That Chancellor Rishi Sunak is having to unveil further remedial measures, just two weeks after launching a Winter Jobs Plan, speaks volumes.

And while the Richmond MP is acutely aware of the hardship facing firms and families, and has acted accordingly, his regard for them is not matched by his Cabinet colleagues.

In contrast, their cavalier disregard for their decision-making processes – and how they impact on the regions of the North – is, frankly, contemptible.

A reluctance to engage with local leaders metro mayors and public servants who understand the health, social and economic challenges in their own areas, has been compounded by the London Government – and we make no apology for, once again, making that distinction – briefing favoured friends in the capital’s media about its intentions over further lockdowns next week.

Coming after the exams fiasco which risked unfairly penalising students here, and then Defra downgrading Yorkshire’s flooding summit, this escalating breakdown of trust risks imperilling the national fight against Covid and efforts to advance a ‘levelling up’ agenda’ which becomes more urgent by the hour.

Only a dedicated Cabinet-level Minister for the North, with officials based here serving the great regions of the North, will suffice if the London Government is to begin to make amends with the 15 million-plus people who live and work here – and who are, to a person, fed up at being treated like second class citizens.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson