A Regional Headline

25.08.20 Darrell Priestley

In praise of the Yorkshire Evening Post

I saw the front page of this Tuesday’s YEP, a paper I often admire, and even though nowadays I don’t read it as often as I might, today I absolutely had to buy a copy. The page features a plea to the Chancellor, on behalf of the region’s economy, and near to home is always very close to my heart. The message does the YEP credit, and I wanted to share it with you. It simply says:

Dear Chancellor,

Our region's leaders are looking to you to help kick start our economy's recovery.

Their £750m plan could create nearly 70,000 new jobs.

If you ignore their pleas you risk a £12bn hit to the region's economy.

You do the maths.

Yours sincerely The YEP

This resonated with me because I strongly believe that, in terms of the local economy, the fight back has to start locally, and focus most on need close to home. At a time where there is need everywhere, local jobs matter. The sum involved is not actually as big as it sounds, when compared with some of the contracts the government has handed out to private companies recently, and it really pleased me to see the YEP put itself forward as a local champion for local people, jobs and enterprise.

This message cheered me up enormously. I think it would fit in rather well with the government’s stated aims of leveling up, so there is nothing not to like. I can only hope this message will be well received. I guess time will tell?