Power up the North? There are many ways to do so - but regional democracy for the North of England remains the most reliable

Som of the 30 Northern English papers who joined the Yorkshire Post’s statement to “Power Up The North”

We’re delighted to run this piece from our regular contributor Ian Martin, co-founder of the Same Skies Collective, a network pushing for regional democracy in Yorkshire (they’re also launching a think tank for West Yorkshire in October 2020).

Here, Ian muses on what the Conservative Party’s recent General Election advance in the North of England means for the growing movement towards self-government in these regions.

Looking back on the decade passed, 2014 was an inspiring year for me. And as I discovered more about Scotland’s movement for self-determination (back at least to progress since the 1979 referendum), it made me think again about what might be possible in Yorkshire by taking responsibility for our future.

But I have to admit that when I’ve chatted with others around here (such as at Same Skies’ events in markets around West Yorkshire), it meant something different to some people. Instead, it got them thinking about the benefits of transactional politics.

I thought about the Indy movement (including the SNP) as a movement about making change happen yourself. But to others here, Nicola Sturgeon is a caricature - someone who simply wants to get all the good stuff for Scotland. “Vote for me and I will get you what you want, whether or not it’s fair or just or good for the world generally”.

Since 2014, I’ve sensed a change in my part of the world. People have been looking for those who will make demands of our London-centric government about what we need.

The Yorkshire Post’s partnership with other press in the North to make demands of central government in the interests of a specific place (the place where I live too) is the best example of this new politics here [see the "Power Up The North hashtag #putn].

And when it has come to elections, many have looked towards parties not only willing to make a deal with us if we vote for them but, just as importantly, parties who make us believe they will really be able to deliver those things.

So in this era of transactional politics for Yorkshire, the growth in support for the Conservative Party makes sense. It is the party that has had a majority in the House of Commons for most of the last century. It looked like it would do it again in 2019.

It seemed logical to vote for the party that will be in power, that seemed in a position to deliver on its limited manifesto and to put your area at the front of the queue by agreeing to the deal.

It’s pretty clear that an increasing number of people that had previously voted Labour in postindustrial towns in Yorkshire didn’t believe that it was worth making that kind of deal with them this time.

Did anybody believe that Jeremy Corbyn would ever participate in transactional politics? Did anybody believe that they would form a majority government and then go on to deliver their wide ranging manifesto?

Given the scale and nature of defeat, it is understandable that Labour members are focusing on their party and its future just now. There are some very thoughtful contributions from people like Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel. But it seems to me from the outside that there are three assumptions about the structure of politics that they must overcome.

• The first assumption is that the best way to bring about meaningful change is through the structures of the Westminster system of government.

• The second assumption is that this means winning a single party majority across the U.K., under the first past the post structure of elections.

• The third assumption is that the best structure to hold that majority is the London-based U.K. Labour Party.

This means that many good people always do whatever they can to win a House of Commons majority for the Labour Party under first past the post. And so to them what is best for the Labour Party is best for Yorkshire. I think there are many great people in the Labour Party, the party has many achievements of which it can be proud and there are interesting ideas for the future expressed by members of the party.

But what if those assumptions are wrong?

What if we started from a different point? What if we asked not what is best for a specific party but instead what is best for Yorkshire? And then try to make that conclusion happen? And for me, that means looking at structure in a different way to those assumptions generally made by Labour Party activists.

It means regional democracy. And that’s not the same as transactional politics.

Given the London Hegemony’s historic neglect of Yorkshire, I can appreciate the value of transactional politics in the here and now. But what about the future? What about when the other parts of the Conservatives’ new coalition of voters become the priority?

In that light, we should build our civil society here as autonomously as possible. Instead of simply voting for whoever at Westminster is most likely to give us what we want over the next 5 years, we should take every opportunity we can to take responsibility for doing it ourselves. Even if it takes another decade.

Ian also adds: “Same Skies are also organising a regional democracy symposium in Huddersfield on January 31st (event information here). Participants interested in sharing their ideas and experiences from anywhere in the world are most welcome”.