Happy Yorkshire Day everyone!

I wouldn’t want to have been born anywhere in the world but Yorkshire. We have great people and communities, great businesses, fabulous universities, creative artists, world-leading scientists, wonderful theatres and galleries.

When you think about Yorkshire, it’s hard not to think about David Hockney or Henry Moore or the Bronte sisters or the Brownlee brothers or Nicola Adams or Jessica Ennis-Hill or even the Arctic Monkeys.

But it is not right that our region has been left behind by a tiny elite group whose wealth and power is centred in London and the South East. We need fundamental change in how our politics works to stop Yorkshire from being continually held back. I have come to the conclusion that the only answer to this chronic regional inequality is devolution.

Yorkshire is God’s own county. I hope we can speak with a loud, clear voice so that we are given the opportunity to thrive.