Eleven years after demonstrating to PM David Cameron how Yorkshire is short-changed compared to those parts of the UK which receive funding through the Barnet Formula, David Blunkett, now Lord Blunkett, has brought that very matter to the attention of the Government once more. This time he took the opportunity to put the point to Lord Greenhaulgh, Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, during a Lords debate on the preservation of England’s Traditional Counties,
He raised the matter with David Cameron in 2010 at Prime Minister’s Questions during his pre-amble to challenging Mr Cameron to give one valid reason why Yorkshire should not have her own White Rose Parliament, the question which inspired the creation of YDM! During the recent Lords debate, he said:
“My Lords, the national insurance hike last week skewed funding under the Barnett formula still further. If the historic county of Yorkshire, which has a population slightly larger than Scotland’s, had its own Barnett formula, it would receive an extra twelve billion pounds (£12bn). Would that not be levelling up?” *
It is saddening to report that the response from the Minister for Levelling Up was equal in its evasion of the question to that of the Prime Minister back in 2010; Lord Greenhaulgh saying:
“My Lords, I thought the supplementary questions might go in any direction, but I recognise that the noble Lord is a proud Yorkshireman and that he will do all he can to ensure the county gets the resources it needs.” *
As responses go, this one certainly raises more questions than it does answers; one of those questions being, just how serious is the Government on “levelling up”?
- From: https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-09-16/debates/A3F3FF1F-A3F5-4B68-91E4-C549C8E16836/EnglandHistoricCounties#contribution-67F9AE25-6B4C-4644-93EB-161A6F0A29DA
I am a Yorkshireman, brought up to understand that ‘deeds speak louder than words’.
Any wonder I have been skeptical from the outset that the policy of ‘levelling up’ is nothing more than a ‘sound bite’ to humour the minions.
The present Government is likely to pay for their duplicity at the next General Election but unfortunately our polarized and confrontational electoral system will simply return the other lot, which conjures up yet another phrase I heard quoted many times in my childhood!