Published: Yorkshire Post, 29 October 2010
This week in the House of Commons, I mischievously asked the Prime Minister David Cameron if, given the coalition Government’s total lack of respect for the English regions, he could come up with one good reason why Yorkshire should not simply cut its losses, go its own way and create a White Rose Parliament.
This wasn’t a bid by me to become the region’s First Minister, but an attempt to draw attention to the fact that while, quite rightly, the nations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with their devolved administrations, have the ability to set their own priorities, distribute their own money and invest in their own people, our destiny is not decided here in our own county.
Instead, despite the rhetoric of David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, we are seeing decision-making being centralised in Westminster and Whitehall – quite the reverse of their promise to put more power in the hands of town halls and local communities.
Coupled with the draconian cuts announced by George Osborne in his Spending Review last week, there is a serious threat to social cohesion in cities like Sheffield and the looming spectre of a worsening north-south divide across the nation of England. Indeed, the impact of the cuts – and how they will disproportionately hit regions such as Yorkshire and the Humber, while the devolved nations have at least some room to manoeuvre and curb the worst effects – could test the strength of the union of the United Kingdom itself.
In a lecture at the University of Sheffield this week to celebrate the centenary of the city’s Cambrian Society, I explored the different levels of support which go to our devolved neighbours.
Wales has a population of 3 million people and will receive £14.5 billion from the Treasury in what is called the Central Fund next year. Meanwhile, Scotland, with its population of 5 million, will receive £27.3 billion from the Block Grant.
Using the same rough formula and based on the fact that 5.2 million people live in Yorkshire, by my count that means that our region would get £24 billion from central government if it had its own parliament.
Imagine if we did have the power to distribute this £24 billion as we wished. Like London, we could have our own development agency (Boris Johnson has managed to retain his, while the Government has swung the axe at Yorkshire Forward); draw down on and match European funding; ensure that we were able to attract inward investment; and build up our own knowledge-based economy.
We could set our priorities, share across departmental budgets and charge others for the use of our facilities.
Instead of the 82,000 job losses in the region that are being projected by PricewaterhouseCoopers, we could instead have been raising loans for Sheffield Forgemasters.
With nine members of Labour’s Shadow Cabinet – including Ed Miliband – Yorkshire would be well-placed to be the driving force of economic recovery outside the south of England.
And even better, we wouldn’t have to put up with Nick Clegg as our Deputy Prime Minister!
All of this is said, of course, with tongue firmly placed in cheek. But there is a serious point.
The coalition likes to tell us that it is motivated by the desire to devolve, to decentralise; to put the ability to make decisions in the hands of local authorities and neighbourhoods. That’s the rhetoric.
The reality is that we are seeing a savage cut to councils – 26% of the money which comes to them from the Government will go over the next four years – with all the consequences that that will entail for the essential community services that we rely on. Meanwhile, those same councils are being prevented from trying to raise the money themselves to keep those services – the care homes, the help with teenage pregnancy, the drug rehabilitation programmes – going.
Meanwhile, the coalition has abolished the Regional Development Agencies, closed regional government offices and done away with the bodies looking across the whole county at what is needed in terms of new housing and infrastructure.
In London, the situation is quite different. As mentioned, the mayor has kept his development agency, has demanded more resources – and, in terms of capital spending, has got it. As a result, the scarce resources available are going to be pulled like a magnet into the projects being undertaken for the Olympic Games – leaving ever smaller amounts for the regions of England.
Preaching decentralisation while devolving the pain is a recipe for disgruntlement between the nations of the UK and division between cities and regions. The Balkanised nature of England, with regions sliced into pieces by the Government’s risible Local Enterprise Partnerships and fragmented funding arrangements, will hit us hard while power to ameliorate the worst of the cuts is taken away from us.
There is a better way. The coalition could practice what it preaches and give councils the freedom to raise money, deliver services in new ways, and reinforce that independence of spirit coupled with mutual support that is the best of Yorkshire. Rooting ourselves back into the community could help us to weather the storm. I hope that, despite the coalition threat to force us apart, we can maintain the ties that bind in the months and years ahead.
