The government’s Northern Growth Strategy Next Steps policy document initiates its latest plan to boost economic growth across the North of England. This plan is built around increased investment, stronger mayoral combined authorities, and a focus on city-led development. It is presented as a serious step forward in rebalancing the UK economy.
There is a familiar rhythm to documents like this. The diagnosis is, broadly, correct. The language is polished. The intent sounds serious. And yet, for anyone who has read similar documents over the past two decades, there is a nagging familiarity – not of progress, but of repetition.
Empowering mayoral authorities – but not Yorkshire
The strategy leans heavily on mayoral combined authorities as the vehicle for change. We are told they will be strengthened, given longer-term settlements, and trusted with more responsibility.
Yorkshire continues to be approached as a set of administrative fragments rather than a unified region.
West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the rest are expected to operate within structures that make sense to Whitehall, not to the people who live and work here. There is no recognition that Yorkshire, as a whole, might be the right scale at which to plan economic growth, transport or investment.
It is difficult to talk about empowerment while continuing to divide the very place you are trying to grow.
The headline figures are substantial, and few would oppose investment in the North. However, the fundamental approach – funding and rules remaining controlled by the centre – remains the same, shaping local priorities without meaningful change.
Yorkshire is still not in control of its own revenues. It is still dependent on decisions made elsewhere. That is not a recipe for long-term transformation. It is a continuation of managed dependence, albeit in a more orderly form.
Transport: a system without a single voice
There is, rightly, a strong emphasis on transport and connectivity. These are critical to economic growth and long overdue. Transport in Yorkshire does not stop at the boundaries of combined authorities. It should be a single, interconnected system. Yet decisions continue to be filtered through multiple bodies, each with its own priorities, all operating within a national framework.
What is missing is a single Yorkshire-wide authority with the power to plan and deliver a coherent, workable solution. We do not lack ambition in Yorkshire. We lack the ability to act on the right scale.
Cities first — and the rest follows?
The strategy places clear emphasis on city-centre growth, innovation clusters and high-productivity sectors. Leeds, Sheffield and other urban centres are central to this vision.
They are, of course, vital to Yorkshire’s economy. But Yorkshire is not just its cities; it is towns, coastal communities, and rural areas – places that have too often been expected to benefit indirectly from growth happening elsewhere but that don’t. A strategy that prioritises cities without equal focus on the wider region risks reinforcing the very inequalities it seeks to address.
Balanced growth cannot be an afterthought. It has to be built from the start.
Devolution — but on whose terms?
The document speaks confidently about devolution: longer-term funding, greater flexibility and a more mature relationship between central and regional authorities.
All of that is welcome, as far as it goes. But this is still devolution within limits defined by Whitehall. The power to raise revenue remains largely centralised. Policy is shaped within national frameworks. The structures themselves are prescribed rather than chosen. Regions are being given more responsibility, but not genuine autonomy.
There is no meaningful shift toward fiscal self-determination and no indication that places like Yorkshire will be trusted with the full range of powers needed to shape their own future.
What we are seeing is a more structured version of the current system – not a new settlement.
The bigger picture
The government clearly understands that the north has been held back by decades of underinvestment, poor connectivity and regional economies without the tools to reach their full potential. The need for better transport links, more consistent funding and stronger local economies is vital, and nobody knows this more than business.
But it continues to stop short of the obvious conclusion: that lasting change requires a shift in where power sits.
As long as Yorkshire remains dependent on centrally determined funding, centrally designed structures, and centrally defined limits, the scope for transformation will remain constrained.
And that is the point.
Yorkshire does not simply need more attention from the centre. It needs the ability to make its own decisions, set its own priorities and take responsibility for its own future. Until that happens, we will continue to see strategies that promise much, deliver something, but never quite go far enough.
Yorkshire is still waiting.
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