A manifesto to represent the readership of a regional daily has been published in a 16-page supplement.
The Yorkshire Post has printed its apolitical ‘Manifesto for Yorkshire’, which aims to get the best deal for its readers following the 7 May General Election.
Among the calls made by the newspaper are for the subject of English devolution to be given the same importance as issues pertaining to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, and the appointment of a Minister for Yorkshire.
The manifesto, the front cover of which is pictured below, also highlights specific ideas on improving academic attainment to rectify the “embarrassment” of the county’s position at the bottom of various education league tables.
As reported on HTFP, the manifesto was launched in January with readers asked to provide their suggestions as to what could be included.
As well as the supplement in yesterday’s newspaper, an editorial appeared on the front page, pictured below.
It reads: “The Yorkshire Post is proud to publish its general election manifesto for Yorkshire today, setting out our challenge to the next Government to unlock this region’s potential and create a new era of prosperity for its five million residents.
“A Manifesto for Yorkshire – a blueprint which flies the flag for this region and pulls together the key policy challenges facing the White Rose county – is apolitical and seeks to ensure that pre-election promises are not forgotten after polling day on May 7.
“For, while this is already the most unpredictable election in a generation as support for the traditional parties of government becomes splintered, the outcome could not be more critical to Yorkshire’s future prospects if it is to become the much-vaunted ‘economic powerhouse’ envisaged by politicians of all persuasions.”
The manifesto adds: “For too long, this area has been left short-changed by successive governments whose London-centric decision-making and funding formulae have so favoured the capital and devolved nations over the North, not least when it comes to infrastructure investment.
“This must change if various plans to empower Yorkshire are to be turned into tangible benefits.”
A similar project is also taking place at Trinity Mirror’s regional daily titles, with readers being quizzed online about their demands from the next government.
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… setting out our challenge to the next Government to unlock this region’s potential and create a new era of prosperity …
What about a challenge to JP to bring back Yorkshire jobs from India and stop further redundancies from ‘Team Yorkshire’? Pretty poor front cover, by the way. Lazy design.
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God that front page is as boring as a Yorkshireman’s whinge.
But I like the idea of the manifesto and the rose looks beautiful.
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A better front page picture would have been to photograph a crowd of people from different backgrounds who had contributed their ideas to the manifesto and then to feature them in more detail inside. I thought this was meant to be able people power but it doesn’t ‘say’ people to me. I guess lack of creativity and resources leads to the easy option.
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Who thought of those two long slabs of copy? Need to hire someone with design flair by looks!
Great idea diluted by poor execution. Dull. Dull. Dull.
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Hello Yorkshire, goodbye editorial staff. Incidentally, no real Yorkshireman (and I am one) would refer to the place as God’s Own County unless they were being ironic. And didn’t the YP serve up a manifesto in 2010?
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Interesting kerning on the splash head …. think its called tailgating in motoring parlance
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