York Press column – New North Yorkshire Mayor and new Yorkshire Prime Minister?
August 10, 2022
This is a historic month for our great county, as Yorkshire Day on 1st August witnessed the government’s signature of the deal establishing a new Mayor and combined local authority for York and North Yorkshire.
This hands back significant powers and budgets from London, with local representatives here in Yorkshire set to gain control of £540 million of investment over 30 years.
Having long campaigned for greater autonomy and financial independence for our city and region, knowing North Yorkshire people are best placed to decide North Yorkshire priorities, I am delighted by this news.
Significant new money will now be unlocked to spend on local infrastructure, economic development, and job creation, such as the vital York Central brownfield site. The Mayor and authority will gain control of crucial areas like transport, housing and adult education, as well as oversight of our police force and fire service.
York can now regain its rightful place as the ancient capital of the North Riding, and arguably of wider Northern England. This change is a major Conservative achievement, and I look forward to working with the new Mayor after their election in 2024 to drive much-needed local economic growth, which is the only way to end cost-of-living pressures.
Securing these gains for our region is precisely why we need a strong Yorkshire voice in Downing Street as our next Prime Minister, Richmond MP Rishi Sunak. It is notable that Yorkshire’s greatest living politician, William Hague, and virtually all North Yorkshire MPs, are firmly behind him.
At the Treasury he has tirelessly pushed for new infrastructure, skilled jobs and a fair share of funding for Northern England. As a new MP he was a passionate advocate of how ‘freeports’ could revitalise the region, now becoming a reality at Humberside, Teeside and Liverpool, also putting meat on the bones of ‘levelling up’ by establishing a new UK Infrastructure Bank in Leeds, and relocating large parts of the Treasury and other departments to Darlington.
His recent commitment to scrap VAT on household energy bills if prices breach a certain level shows he is ready to take drastic action to protect York families from world inflation. Rishi is also the best candidate to lead our country in taking full advantage of the opportunities of Brexit. He rebelled against the party leadership to support Leave in 2016, the only one of the final two candidates to do so. Having worked in technology and investment at the cutting-edge in Silicon Valley and globally, he is the person most likely to make post-EU ‘Global Britain’ a reality by guiding our country in generating the skilled, high-wage jobs of the future we will need to compete and secure a prosperous future for our children.
Crucially, he combines this experience and vision with a practical, down-to-earth approach. Despite the claims of some, his family background is one of growing up in provincial England with parents who worked hard in community healthcare as a pharmacist and NHS GP, and I know small business and family are the things that most motivate him.
Whoever wins will have to bring an immediate and relentless focus on protecting households from rising world prices, building on the £1200-plus energy prices support and doubled £1 billion Household Support Fund already introduced for the most vulnerable households. Personally, I think the government should consider further cuts to fuel duty beyond the 5p reduction already introduced, alongside a nearly 7% minimum wage increase and National Insurance tax cut for 70% of households already coming in.
However, the only permanent solution is to deliver a growing economy that raises wages and creates good jobs, and ensure through the welfare and tax systems that people are always better off in work.
Alongside this, I am glad to see Ministers increasing the number of bobbies on the beat in our region, fulfilling the 2019 Conservative election pledge to recruit 20,000 new police officers. This means North Yorkshire Police is now the largest it has ever been, with 190 more policemen than in 2019. Law and order are essential for the existence and flourishing of a community, and I am reassured that despite other disruption, the government is quietly getting on and delivering this.
