Business leaders across the county have backed a call by The Cumberland News and other media leaders across the north to commit to investing in the region’s economy.

The newspapers and websites have formed a Power Up The North collaboration demanding detailed plans from all major parties for a bespoke Industrial Strategy for the North of England and financial powers to “overhaul” the region’s road and rail network, including making Northern Powerhouse Rail a national priority.

We have published an open letter to the next Prime Minister calling on politicians to spell out what they intend to do to narrow the North-South divide, to give formal backing to the Northern Powerhouse agenda and develop detailed plans to improve the area.

These would:

n Develop a bespoke Industrial Strategy for the North of England to enable every sector of the economy, from manufacturing to farming, to flourish;

n Provide Transport for the North with full policy – and financial – powers to overhaul the region’s road and rail network as a part of a wider environmental plan;

n Undertake to make Northern Powerhouse Rail a national priority;

n Advance devolution in Yorkshire, the North East, North West and Cumbria so more decisions are taken locally;

n Make additional investment available for the North’s schools, colleges and universities to boost skills training;

n Set out a programme to build a new generation of social housing, and affordable homes;

n Accelerate investment in the North’s digital infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, and support creative industries.

We also want the next PM - and future leaders - to elevate the post of Northern Powerhouse Minister to Cabinet status, with full powers, as a clear signal that they intend to take this region seriously.

In Cumbria we hope action will include pursuing the Borderlands Growth Deal and prospects for a new nuclear power plant at Moorside.

Nigel Mills, chairman of the Lakes Distillery and owner of the Trout Hotel in Cockermouth, supports our campaign.

The former chairman of the Entrepreneurs Forum of 300 business owners from across the north east agreed that the north has to be represented at Government level.

He said: “I don’t understand why the investment in the north’s infrastructure is not bigger.

“According to the statistics, we are home to 15 million people, and employ a quarter of England’s workforce.

“But our east and west ports are underused because they do not have the right connectivity.

“The south of the country is becoming more developed and overcrowded.

“Spending £55bn on the HS2 rail scheme does not make any sense. If you look at what that could do for the north, it is transformational.”

He says a minister for the north would be able to help redress the imbalance and encourage more businesses to base themselves in the region.

“There is no-one in authority in the north that can command the attention of the Treasury to make that long term investment into UK plc.

“I would like to see the government make a real commitment to infrastructure expenditure over the next 10-20 years which cannot be scrapped and downgraded simply because it does not suit the agenda of the government at the time.

“Why aren’t the northern MPs coming together in a cross-party group to speak with one voice for the region?”

Michael Bell, managing director at Bells of Lazonby, agrees that action needs to be taken to power up the northern economy.

But he says that we should be able to go it alone, rather than calling on the government for more assistance,

He says that instead of building HS2 we should spend on the infrastructure we already have to improve train schedules and road quality.

“We have so much going for us in this country. We have beautiful landscape and massively underused infrastructure.

“I would like to see us have some money to decide within our county or region where we want to spend it, or an ability to raise extra revenue to do things we want.

“We have rail lines that are not properly used. Make use of what we have got, rather than build something new that we have to pay for the upkeep and can’t maintain.

“I would urge people not to demand what is going to be done for us but to have delegated powers to the region so we can raise more money.”

He suggested a bed tax for hotels and caravan parks – or even charging more for the water that we pump down to Manchester.

He said: “Why can’t we profit from our most valuable resource? If it was oil we would.”

Rob Johnston, chief executive of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Power Up the North campaign highlights an important issue. The north in general, and we would say Cumbria in particular, gets a poor deal from central Government.

“Whoever the next Prime Minister is, we need to move to a system that prioritises economic opportunity and builds capacity.

“This isn’t a begging-bowl mentality. We’re simply asking for a fair allocation of resources to help realise the north’s tremendous potential.”

Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison, also backed the campaign, pointing out: “Closing the economic divide between North and South is vital to ensure we can make this a fairer country, raise productivity and meet the challenge of remaining globally competitive.

“The North has to come together to speak as one and the message couldn’t be clearer; commit to a clear package of policy measures, so the Northern Powerhouse can be even greater than it was in the past.”

Barry Leahey, chairman of the Cumbria branch of the Institute of Directors, said: “Whoever is to lead the

country next has to sort out Brexit with the urgency that business need, not only for clarity of the situation but to also return the bandwidth to a position when Westminster can recognise all the great strides the Northern Powerhouse has made.

“Business directors in the Northern Powerhouse have been working hard on crucial plans to protect and grow every sector of the economy from manufacturing to farming and we need to get back to actions, and quickly.”