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Yorkshire leaders question Deputy PM’s commitment to the North in the run up to the elections

Northern leaders have banded together to question the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s commitment to the North, in response to his ‘Northern Futures’ speech at the Leeds Economic Forum las week.

The Core Cities and their surrounding areas are 27% of the UK economy. London is 22%. They represent the councils of England’s eight largest city economies outside London.

The core cities include Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Mancheser, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

A copy of Clegg’s original speech can be found here, in which he announced the Government’s Northern Futures project to devolve power to the Northern cities from Whitehall.

A joint statement from Cllr Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, and Cllr Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield City Council said:

“Here in the North we have been collaborating to build our great cities into an economic powerhouse over two decades. We welcome further high-level recognition that our great northern cities are engines of national growth and the commitment of government to work with us on delivering this.

“The support which is being offered to support our ambitions to grow our economies while reforming public services to increase people’s independence and reduce costs is also positive.

“Our cities, along with the other Core Cities – England’s largest outside London – have been working closely together for many years to make the case for the greater freedoms and investment which will unleash our full potential of our great cities. We have put forward a series of ambitious ideas and will continue to do so.

“We would of course be happy to have constructive conversations with the Deputy Prime Minister and others about how to move this agenda forwards.

“However, we would question why this mantle is being taken up now by the DPM with less than 10 months until the General Election when so much more could have been achieved in the last four years.

“If this is to be more than words, it is important that we push on with building the northern powerhouse as soon as possible.”

Part of the Deputy PM’s speech stated: “If we’re fully committed to enabling your companies to reach their full potential in the years ahead, then we also need to strengthen the connections between Leeds and other northern cities too – a point made in the recent Higgins’ report.

“For years, I’ve argued that Leeds, along with Sheffield and Manchester, can and should form part of a northern hub, driving economic investment and growth across the north of England.

“These are 3 of Britain’s biggest cities all within 45 miles of one another.

“Together, they can offer investors access to flexible, highly-skilled workforces, world-class universities with cutting-edge research expertise, a strong industrial base and clusters of innovative businesses in high-growth sectors such as precision manufacturing, creative and professional services, healthcare, retail and green industries.”

Photo: Liberal Democrats, Flickr

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .

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