THE Archbishop of York has a reputation for speaking good sense and his call to tackle the North-South divide is one that we share wholeheartedly.

Successive governments have let the North down badly and at the same time encouraged the hothouse development of London and the South-East, enabling them to suck in investment, jobs and economic growth.

The Tories much-vaunted Northern Powerhouse has so far been little more than a catchy slogan, no doubt well-meaning, but it lacks substance rather like a fancy brand name still in search of a tangible product.

It is all well and good to talk about an ambition to build a coalition of Northern cities capable of challenging the capital but the devastating impact of spending cuts has sapped confidence, robbed us of thousands of well-paid jobs, and left talk of a “Powerhouse” sounding rather hollow. Since George Osborne came up with the idea we have been hit with the demise of the Tees steel-making industry and our region continues to top the jobless table.

New jobs have been created too, but we have an economy where zero hours contracts, food banks and low paid workers juggling multiple roles to make ends meet are on the increase.

Labour’s efforts to boost the region centred around the One North East development agency were good at spending public money on eye-catching projects but they failed to leave a legacy of the hi-tech skills and modern transport links we need to compete with London, let alone the rest of the world.

Echoing Theresa May’s pledge to build a nation where prosperity is shared by all, Dr Sentamu believes that unless the Government makes the revival of the North a priority, then the country will become even more divided.

The whole of Britain will feel the benefit if the North flourishes.