It’s not every morning you wake up to find your city has been nominated as potentially the home for the UK’s Second Chamber.
I did have an inkling this was on the cards. But, nonetheless, it focuses one’s mind when the nation’s broadcast and print media suddenly descend on you for a comment. Especially when you’re on your way to Betty’s for a late breakfast. But, the more you think about it, the more logical this proposition becomes.
The immediate reaction has been to suggest that this proposal might be right up there with some other of Boris’s ideas - Fantasy Island, (aka the potential location for a new London Airport in the Thames estuary). Or the Garden Bridge (initially the brain-child of La Lumley).
But there might be a method in his madness. York is equidistant between London and Edinburgh. A fast train gets you from the capital to the capital of God’s Own County in one hour fifty. York has been voted the UK’s favourite city. It’s safe, well connected to Leeds and Manchester and just a short right turns away from the A1 as you drive north from the capital. York is also one of the few northern cities to send more revenue to the Exchequer than the Exchequer spends on it. And we have full employment, as well as just about the best-educated population in Britain.
I should know - I am a former President of the York & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. I was instrumental in merging Y&NY Chamber with the Chambers from the great cities of both Leeds and Bradford, whereupon I became the inaugural chair of the West & North Yorkshire Chamber. So, we can hand out a few lessons on how to get on with your neighbours.
Oh, and York has form… As Eboracum, York was the Roman capital of Britannia. And, as Jorvik, we served as the UK’s Viking capital.
York may be a city of only 200,000 or so residents, but we host some seven million visitors a year. We’re the home of two great universities, a world-class agricultural college and some of the best private and state-funded schools in the north. Once a city based on low wages, railways and chocolate, we have metamorphosed into a Science City; a City of festivals and a stop-off-point for performers honing their acts en-route to the Edinburgh Festival.
Some predictable objections have centred around the fact that an Upper House in the North will turn out to be more expensive than London. But I disagree. Although by no means the cheapest city outside of the capital, York’s property prices are lower than in the south-east. And I don’t think Boris’s imagination has stopped there. I suspect he has his eye on a much smaller, elected chamber, rather than one populated by political flunkies relying on the patronage of their political masters to grant them a peerage.
London sucks up too much oxygen within the UK. That’s why Boris’s commitment to rebuilding the north won him so many seats in traditional Labour territory. No doubt he thinks it’s payback time.
London is the only World City in Europe, and also the most economically dominant capital of any European country. Long term, that can’t be a good thing. The Northern Powerhouse is designed to re-address this economic imbalance, by focussing more investment in the regions. What better way, than to create a major seat of government up here? A sort of Washington to the USA’s New York, or a Canberra to Australia’s Sydney or Melbourne.
It’s not exactly unfriendly territory in North Yorkshire for Boris either. Whilst York Central remains stubbornly Labour, the remainder of the White Rose County of North Yorkshire is Tory Blue. The current government would be amongst friends here.
Undoubtedly, the BBC’s relocation to Salford has been a shot in the arm for the north west’s fortunes. Perhaps this bold initiative is designed to add balance to the righteous side of the Pennines.
So, York as a home for the second Chamber? Well, why not? Better than Lancaster anyway.
Comments