Give us a Yorkshire Parliament and a Yorkshire budget and let’s see whether we can do any better - Andy Brown

For many this has led to a tendency to look back to a better and a simpler age when Britain was the workshop of the world and large numbers of people working in the same large establishments helped create a sense of community. That is an entirely understandable sentiment. It is, however, not a lot of help when it comes to designing a fightback.

Almost all the large labour intensive factories have been driven out of Britain. Not, as some would have it, because Britain began to insist on higher environmental standards or better legal rights. The offshoring was primarily driven by cynical decisions about where in the world labour was cheapest for unskilled jobs.

By contrast Germany held on to much of its industrial heritage. Not because of any lowering of standards. Germany relied on heavy investment in new technology and an education system that values skills. That enabled its people to keep and to enhance their industrial heritage by modernising it and being at the forefront of change. A success they achieved whilst remaining at the heart of the EU.

In Britain too much of the focus was on extracting oil and gas from the north sea and on financial services. The income from that kept the value of the pound at levels that made it hard for industry to compete. The serious money was made from inventing financial derivatives instead of new industrial techniques.

In short Britain prioritised the City of London whilst Germany developed many different centres of economic activity and a more diversified and modern economy. The first step in recovery is to accept that the UK made a mistake and needs a change of approach.

Levelling up is a very fine slogan. It is a very long way from becoming a fine reality.

Instead of investing in skills this government has presided over a huge contraction in real terms funding for further education colleges.

Instead of having an effective regional development policy the government has focused on organising competitions between local authorities to see who can attract money. That is an incredibly wasteful way of proceeding.

Rushing out well publicised schemes like so called “freeports” enables the government to give the impression that they are tackling the issue. That doesn’t help much if new investment zones come with weak regulations.

The North of England needs quality jobs in new industries, not a race to the bottom on standards. We have some great universities that produce cutting edge research. The businesses that spin off from that research need much more support to turn that innovation into marketable products and services.

We also have the great advantage of the NHS. Or what is left of it. That can put us at the forefront of the modern medical technology business with its huge employment opportunities.

We can also take advantage of our vibrant northern creative industries. The importance and the potential of this field of work as a money spinner is seriously neglected. There are more jobs these days in writing code for computer games than in boiler making.

Off our coast are some of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. Yet we haven’t taken full advantage of our leadership and are importing a lot of the parts from China. Hull is particularly well placed to develop all the associated technology of energy transfer and energy storage along with servicing equipment.

That opportunity has been recognised by the granting of central government project funding and other parts of Yorkshire have been granted new investment zones in the budget. Yet too much of the money is temporary stop start funding spent in centrally selected locations.

What the north really needs is its own money to drive forward its own ideas. What we are getting is serious cuts in local government budgets accompanied by decisions made in London about which local authorities are allowed to have investment zones where most of the incentives have been centrally determined.

If we are to achieve real regeneration it needs to be inspired and led locally. Give us a Yorkshire Parliament and a Yorkshire budget and let’s see whether we can do any better.

Andy Brown is a Craven District Councillor representing Aire Valley with Lothersdale and the North Yorkshire Councillor for Aire Valley.