Yorkshire Devolution Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
Hilary Benn
Main Page: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)Department Debates - View all Hilary Benn's debates with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
Yorkshire Devolution
Hilary Benn Excerpts(6 years, 4 months ago)
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Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)
This is a major opportunity to break the stranglehold of centralisation and to liberate Yorkshire to fulfil its potential, because while these arguments go back and forth we are missing out on getting the means that we require to make the most of the potential of the more than 5 million people of Yorkshire. We have heard about the inequality in transport investment. We are not making the most of our economic potential. At a time of Brexit, it is absolutely vital that we do so. We must invest in infrastructure and skills, attract people and provide homes for them, but we lack the means to fulfil that potential at the moment. I welcome the progress that has been made, but I hope that Ministers will hear that we are making a simple plea: if they give Yorkshire the tools, we will do the job.