Northern Powerhouse Minister Grant Shapps has promised “a dramatic step-up in Northern Powerhouse activity” amid accusations that progress on rebalancing the prospects of the North and the South has faltered.

Labour has ignored warnings that the party has continued to neglect rural voters, writing seats off as Tory strongholds. But a new report from the Countryside Alliance launched exclusively with the Yorkshire Post shows the keys to No 10 lie in rural constituencies and without them, Labour will not recover.

The political landscape in West Yorkshire has changed, meaning that in just a few months time the county’s voters will get a chance to choose the leader who will help shape its future for decades to come.

As negotiations with the EU appear gloomy, the way in which the UK trades with other countries and remains prosperous come 2021 has yet again been up for discussion. The creation of up to 10 freeports, where goods can be imported without paying customs duties, is seen as somewhat of a panacea. But opinion on them is split, with little understanding in the public consciousness of what benefits they may actually bring, as Geraldine Scott reports.

An overhaul of the country’s economic system likened to the founding of the NHS could be the way to combat the devastating recession expected to be caused by coronavirus, campaigners have suggested.

Albeit on different sides of the argument, two Yorkshire MPs have been at the forefront of the Brexit debate for the last three and a half years - and before. On the UK’s first day outside of the EU for decades, Hilary Benn and Andrea Jenkyns speak to Westminster Correspondent Geraldine Scott to reflect on the struggle, and look at what comes next.