Why we need a Northern Super Region

The following is an article our CEO and Founder David Prescott wrote on northern devolution for the Yorkshire Post and the Northern Agenda.

Last week I planned to travel the 100 miles from Hull to Manchester by train for a debate on English devolution and its impact on the North. The journey would have taken 2 hours and 46 minutes, with a change at Halifax. By contrast, a direct train from Hull to London—200 miles away—would have got me there five minutes earlier.

This stark disparity underscores the deep-rooted infrastructure imbalance between the North and South. Northern cities, despite their proximity, remain poorly connected by rail—a persistent drag on the region’s potential.

Over two decades ago, my father, John Prescott, helped develop The Northern Way- a strategy to close the £30 billion economic output gap between the North and South. It built on the work of three Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) covering the North West, Yorkshire and the North East, established by Labour in 1997 to promote enterprise, transport, and employment.

These agencies delivered real impact. According to a 2009 National Audit Office report, RDAs generated £3 in economic benefits for every £1 invested-outperforming many central government programmes.

The Northern Way envisioned Regional Assemblies, empowered city regions, and large-scale investment to integrate the North’s economic and transport systems. But in 2010, the coalition government scrapped RDAs, then eventually replacing them with Local Enterprise Partnerships—a move widely criticised for weakening regional ambition.

George Osborne’s 2014 “Northern Powerhouse” agenda tried to revive regional focus. Though light on fiscal substance, it sparked the rise of Combined Authorities led by directly elected mayors. Today, Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire, the Liverpool City Region, and my home of Hull and East Yorkshire, led by another boxer turned politician, all benefit from this structure.

Yet, the North remains fragmented, with 19 different local transport authorities and scattered planning bodies—unlike London’s integrated governance model under Transport for London (TfL).

Change, however, may be coming.

The new English Devolution White Paper, led by Angela Rayner, promises the biggest transfer of power from Westminster this century. Proposals include enhanced mayoral powers, reformed funding models, and, for the first time, devolution embedded in legislation—plus two new forums: a Mayoral Council and a Council of Nations.

But how can the North speak with one voice?

A decade ago, my father called for a “Super Region” uniting the North West, North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber. Home to nearly 16 million people and with a combined GDP of over £530 billion, the North would rank as the world’s 32nd largest economy—bigger than Norway and only three places behind Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

John said: “The capital has an elected Mayor shouting loud for London. The North has a hotchpotch of councils, mayors, and authorities. Let’s have a body that unites our regions, like London does.”

The Great North initiative, bringing together northern mayors, is a step toward that. Their shared priorities reflect strategic regional strengths: the Energy Coast (which generates half of England’s renewable energy), improved rail links, and world-class research centres like Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Manchester’s Graphene Institute.

These could form the foundation of a true Northern Super Region. But achieving this requires more than collaboration—it needs fiscal devolution.

Mayors and councils must be granted the power to raise and spend money independently, allowing them to plan and invest over the long term. That was a key theme of the devolution debate I attended in Manchester (I ended up driving—40 minutes quicker than the train!).

The panel—Henri Murison (Northern Powerhouse Partnership), Jo Platt MP, Thomas Pope (Institute for Government), and Gill Morris (Devo Agency)—welcomed the white paper but stressed the importance of fiscal autonomy.

Greater Manchester’s voluntary £1-per-night hotel charge has already raised £2.8 million to support tourism. Edinburgh plans to introduce a compulsory 5% levy in 2026.

Currently, northern mayors operate with limited financial autonomy whilst Scotland controls transport, education, and justice and London’s Mayor manages a £21 billion budget.

Northern mayors, by contrast, rely on competitive bids for short-term pots from Westminster—making coherent, long-term planning difficult.

But the greatest need remains better East–West connectivity.

Initially dubbed HS3, then rebranded as Northern Powerhouse Rail, this Crossrail for the North - set out in Labour’s 2017 and 2019 manifestos - aims to connect Liverpool to Hull with a faster link. As a former Labour political advisor, I lobbied for it.

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership and Transport for the North estimate it could generate £100 billion in GVA and create up to 850,000 new jobs.

Encouragingly, Rachel Reeves, in her Spending Review speech, promising a government plan to move forward with it. That announcement is expected in this week’s ten-year infrastructure strategy.

For it to succeed, though, it must stretch from Liverpool to Hull—realising my father’s vision of a fast land bridge connecting Europe and America via northern ports.

The North doesn’t lack ambition. It lacks the tools, powers, and infrastructure to deliver.

To unlock our full potential we need greater East to West connectivity and mayoral and council co-operation to create a Northern Super Region that finally speaks with one voice and ultimately fiscal devolution to raise and spend money in the North for the North.

That’s the real devolution revolution the North desperately needs.