Calls for PM Boris Johnson to hand power to the North

Prime Minister: Boris Johnson has been urged to give more powers to Northern leaders.

IPPR North has laid out its own set of demands to the Prime Minister.

In a new report, the think tank calls on the Government to develop a Northern industrial strategy, to devolve a raft of economic powers and to commit to a Council of the North.

The researchers said the North has seen strong jobs growth in the key sectors of high-tech manufacturing and knowledge intensive business services, but that any extra progress will require new powers to be handed over to the area’s political leaders.

The Express, The Yorkshire Post and other titles across the region are backing the Power Up the North campaign.

The campaign is asking government to deliver on promises that were made in the Northern Powerhouse and for Britain’s main political parties to commit to a package of policy measures to improve the north’s economy.

Report author Luke Raikes, a senior research fellow at IPPR North said: “This country has endured centralised economic policy for decades. Central government has failed the North, and it has failed people across the country – even in our booming but poverty-stricken capital.

“All our regional economies are broken in their own way, and both Londoners and Northerners have paid the price for this missed opportunity. But there is a better way. Now is the time to change. The new Prime Minister must urgently deliver on his promises, seize this opportunity to set right a historic wrong and devolve power to the leaders of the North so that they can take charge of the Northern economy.”

Backing the campaign, Mr Johnson said: “The Power Up the North campaign demonstrates the dynamism, the ambition and the resolve of newspapers across the North to improve the lives of their readers, and of local businesses and political leaders to drive real change.”

Policies announced by the Prime Minister included funding a high-speed rail link between Leeds and Manchester.

Last week it was revealed that TransPennine Express train services in Leeds are frequently full beyond capacity to the extent its services in the city are the most crowded in the north.