THIS newspaper’s comments on the absence of a North-East voice and presence in David Cameron’s trade mission to China – two places out of 131 in case anyone missed it – really said it all.

So this may be an attempt to improve on perfection, but here goes anyway.

Why are we treated like this?

The North-East has world-class businesses, universities and colleges. It has local authorities that are committed to partnership and pooling resources with the private and third sectors to attract growth and jobs. It is one of the last places in the UK that actually makes products that can generate real and sustainable prosperity for ourselves and the rest of the nation.

But, despite the best efforts of business and civic leaders, we still have our noses pressed against the window like some character in a Dickens’ Christmas story, unseen and unheeded by the permanent government of this country, the civil service and their servants, the elected politicians.

The reason, I think, is simple.

We need a coherent regional strategy for growth that encompasses inward investment, training and research, transport and communications. We need decisions on what to spend and where to spend it, taken locally by people who know the needs and potential of the North-East.

The Government’s City Deal doesn’t go far enough to satisfy these prerequisites for a prosperous region. We will get only as much autonomy as central government thinks is advantageous to them, not beneficial to us.

New money will be spent on plugging the gap in public finances rather than investment for the future.

There will be a lot of responsibility but a questionable amount of power. There will be a gap in credibility and accountability That is because we also need a directly elected, democratic body for the whole region to manage strategic services and public sector investment and pull together the thousand and one partnerships and joint working arrangements that are springing up across the North-East.

Ten years ago, the campaign for a Regional Assembly imploded. The public were cynical about the cost of an extra tier of government and many politicians lukewarm or plain hostile as they saw it as a threat to their fiefdom and perks.

I remember standing on the steps of the Monument, in Newcastle, near the end of the campaign telling a sceptical audience our current system would do the job for about a decade, but after that it would be no longer fit for purpose.

As the North-South divide widens and the power brokers continue to ignore us, I get no pleasure in being proved right.

I am not saying that when such a Regional Assembly spoke the Government would automatically listen – we will have to peel away layers of indifference, hostility and plain ignorance that have built up over decades. But we would have a fighting chance. Take a look at Scotland, Alex Salmond may lose the referendum, but whatever the vote, he has staked an undeniable claim for more autonomy. From globalisation to austerity, from chronic youth unemployment to the growing elderly population, public services and private businesses face challenges of a scale and nature they have never experienced. The old solutions aren’t working.

It is time for a new debate and retrieving a lost opportunity. We don’t just need more seats on the plane. We need to be driving it.