A flagship daily has set out a ten-point manifesto for its patch ahead of Thursday’s general election while declining to support any of the political parties.

The Yorkshire Post – historically a Conservative-supporting title – says it won’t be endorsing any party despite being strongly critical of the current government’s record.

Instead it set out a wide-ranging manifesto for the county covering issues including devolution, climate change, health and social care and the cost of living crisis.

Measures which the National World-owned title is calling for include:

* Greater fiscal devolution to enable Yorkshire to retain more of the taxces it raises locally.

* Action on sewage in rivers and seawater.

* Tackling the ‘toxic impact’ of Ofsted on the teaching profession.

* A review of the decision-making process that led to the cancellation of the Northern leg of HS2.

* A National Care Service to put social care on a level footing with the NHS.

* Working with partners around the world to make the quest for net zero ‘the new Space Race.’

In an editorial accompanying the publication of the manifesto, Post editor James Mitchinson hit out at the Conservatives for their record over 14 years.

He wrote: “People have lost confidence in the leadership of this country. The civil service, the engine room of policy and politics, has lost confidence in the leadership of this country. Our international partners have lost confidence in the leadership of this country.

“Heck, even the Conservatives have lost confidence in the leadership of this country – the cerebral of mind and morally robust Lord Patten, a 24-carat Conservative of the highest calibre, told Times Radio Sir Keir Starmer has all but won the election.

“In the run-up to polling day, leadership and character preside over policy and pledges. At this juncture, people aren’t even looking for a compelling, convincing leader behind whom they can rally and alongside whose convictions they are willing to stand.

“The people I meet and speak to would be happy with an Honest John. Steady. Trustworthy. Safe. Predictable. Someone to steer British politics away from the Siren calls on the Whitehall rocks where scandals, lies, law-breaking, rule-bending, pork-barrelling and gambling threaten to skewer not just self-centred, greedily-entitled MPs but the country’s reputation, too.

“Broken promise after failed manifesto pledge and for 14 years, people are, by virtue of the longevity of Conservative rule, able to judge their mistakes and missteps, and that cannot be said of any of the Tories’ opponents.

“Should, as Lord Patten suggests, Sir Keir Starmer triumph over Rishi Sunak at this General Election, it will not be because he set out an irresistible smorgasbord of campaign morsels. It will be because this Government’s energy, pizzazz, talent, luck and leadership ran out. And they only have themselves to blame for that.”